Ask Pastor Lance
Is it "sinful" to still crave substances after being sober?
QUESTION:
I used to be addicted to a substance that is fairly common in today’s age. It was controlling my life and I decided to quit and have been sober for 9 months. Is it sinful to still have cravings for that substance?
Answer:
The short answer to your question is: NO! It’s absolutely normal and human for our bodies to crave things that they want, especially things we have given them and then taken away from them. The very nature of addiction is about patterns and the chemicals they release. When we drink alcohol, there are a couple of things happening. One is the effects of the alcohol on impairment, but a very serious part that no one thinks about (unless they are thinking about diet) is the sugar involved. When we quit alcohol after a long time of feeding our body with it, there’s going to be an intense withdrawal of sugar. When you use a substance for 9 months, your body begins to compensate for it and rely on it for certain things. The chemical release in our brains and gut alters how we process information, pain, confusion, emotions, etc. When it comes to weed, for some people, it dulls those reactions, which feels good at the time, but because we don’t have to deal with the full impact of our emotions, we become emotionally stunted. I’ve had a number of buddies who have come out of weed addiction after years, and they find themselves emotionally immature, as if they had been on pause the whole time.
But the bigger reason that substance abuse is so dangerous is that human brains work off mapping and patterns. This means that even if we engage in substances that are allegedly ’non-addictive,’ it doesn’t matter; the human brain has addictive patterns. We can get addicted to ANYTHING in the right environment. We can be addicted to shopping, but buying something isn’t technically an ‘addictive substance’. So, the bigger problem is that we emotionally attach to things that we think can help us and make life easier.
When we make the difficult choice to stop doing those addictive patterns, our bodies fight us on it. We know it’s the right thing to do, but our bodies and brain chemistry are used to it, so it will continue to crave it and demand it.
Is it sinful? No. Temptation is not sinful. How do we know that? Because the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are, yet was without sin (paraphrase of Hebrews 4:15). Temptation is the inner drive to do something bad. Jesus had the temptation, the craving, the desire to do things contrary to the Father’s will (while on earth), and chose submission and obedience instead. So, feeling those things, struggling with those things, craving those things is normal. The sinfulness comes when we over-entertain them, lean into them, and act upon them.
I hope that helps.
- Pastor Lance
