Addiction plagues church members in almost equal numbers as it does in the secular world. A reaction of shock and disgust is common when people learn the statistics on addiction within the Christian church. This means for every sex addict, alcoholic, drug addict and so on who is not a Christian, there are equal numbers of sex addicts, alcoholics, drug addicts and so on within the Christian population. People are shocked to learn this because becoming a Christian entails parting with things like addiction. One who surrenders his life to Christ should have no need for a false idol such as alcohol, drugs or sex. The question is, why is addiction thriving within the Christian church?

Christians become addicts because they have not allowed transformation to occur within themselves. Or perhaps they have put things on the altar that are of lesser importance to them but have refused to part with the things they cling to the tightest. The tighter we cling to our prized possessions, the more they get in the way of our relationship with God, which is why God does not want us to hesitate to put these things on the altar first. Christians are imperfect humans who prefer the path of least resistance just as much as the next guy, but for he who submits to Christ in the way that we are intended, the power they receive over their addiction will be limitless.

The answer is simple. A martial artist needs to learn to master their craft over a long period of time under the guidance of their teacher. The same is true for Christians. The growth of a person’s strength in Christ, their savior, is achieved over time. There is no set amount of time that this evolution takes place in. Every person’s journey is unique, and every person’s heart makes different choices. Christ intended for us to be ever striving to know him better and continuously moving closer to him over the course of our entire lives. However, many Christians do not grasp this concept, or if they do at some level, they shy away from it because they do not want their life to change as drastically as Christ wants their life to change. This is not unique to Christians. This is a trait deeply ingrained in humanity. We want to stick to what we know, we would prefer not to be challenged and we resent what or who rocks the boat.