dead men walking
by: Dr. Jim Reeve
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“Dead man walking” is a phrase used for death row prisoners days or even hours away from their execution. Technically still alive, but for all intents and purposes as good as dead, the doomed go about their routine without hope for a better tomorrow. I wonder how much someone can really enjoy a last meal, no matter how delicious, knowing an electrical surge or lethal injection will soon put an end to any and all sensations. I suppose a last minute reprieve from the Governor is about all the hope someone in that situation has left.
While I have never actually seen a prisoner under the imminent threat of execution, I have seen many people who could be described as “dead men walking.” People who as children could not wait to wake up and enjoy the promise of each new day, now bound by various addictions which have robbed them of any semblance of joy. Oh sure, they can breathe, talk and sometimes even become quite animated, but to me it is painfully obvious they are experiencing existence without life. Their eyes are full of desperation, their heads are bowed in depression and their steps are excruciatingly sluggish, as if they understand they are changing locations without really going any place. In short, I see dead people!
Dr. Jim and Haley Joel Osment are not the only ones who see dead people, so did the Apostle Paul. “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin…” (Ephesians 2:1-2, NLT). Notice that Paul pinpoints the culprit of the zombie-like state of the living dead, or should I say the dead living? The unmistakable stench comes from sin. To be sure, sin is fun. Sin is pleasurable. Sin is readily available. But make no mistake about it, sin is deadly. “For sin pays its wage – death” (Romans 6:23, TEV).
Sin promises more than it can deliver; costs more than we can pay; and remains longer than we want it to stay. The illegal (and sometimes legal) drugs we were told would free our minds resulted in the bondage of chemical addiction. At first, we used drugs for fun, relaxation and recreation. Then, we started abusing and to our dismay discovered we could not make it through the day without them. Even worse, though we had always told ourselves we could handle it and stop whenever we wanted, we all-too-soon discovered we could not stop. What happened? We began using drugs, and now drugs are using us, or so it seems. Jesus warned, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave of sin” (John 8:34, NLT).
And it is not just drugs. America has been called, and not without cause, a nation of addicts. The list of addictions would seem to fill a phone book, with more being added daily. Many addictions have to do with normal needs and activities taken to extremes. Everyone needs to eat, but there are numerous eating disorders. Money is a necessity, but gambling, only one of many financial addictions, is the fastest growing addiction problem in America (and yes, Marguerite, shopping addictions are on the list as well). Sex is a gift from God, but has become the source of numerous life destroying addictions. Relationships that are nonsexual can also become addictive, just talk to those who have been tagged “codependent.” We are virtually nagged about being couch potatoes and told we should exercise more, only to learn about the dangers of excessive and uncontrolled over-the-top training. Talking of couch potatoes – television, video games, the internet, cell phones and even i-pods have become the focal point of a new generation of addicts.
Even if it be argued that society today is too quick to stereotype a problem as a disease or an addiction (a critique I do not completely disagree with), it cannot be denied that we face a growing challenge. For every breakthrough in science, technology and medicine, there seems to be a related very human breakdown. In other words, the problem is not simply inherent in the food, chemicals, technology and culture; there is something wrong with us. Though many want to deny its existence, relegating it to the superstitious myths of days gone by, as we have already seen the Bible is clear about the fundamental problem – sin. Sin is the ultimate addiction common to us all.
At its core, sin is addictive because sin is all about me – my wants, my needs, and my concerns. It is like the old line, “Enough talk about me, let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?” Sin declares, “I’ll do what it I want, when I want, how I want. Nobody is going to tell me what to do!” Of course, self-love and self-respect are healthy. How can we love our neighbors as ourselves if we do not love ourselves? But there is a huge difference between loving ourselves and being consumed with ourselves. Self-absorption leads to all kinds of problems. Even people who would argue that their therapists informed them their addictions are rooted in self-loathing and poor self-images are nevertheless victims of the self-centeredness that is sin.
The good news in all this is that God sent His Son Jesus to set us free from life’s destructive addictions. Immediately after noting that everyone who sins is a slave (or addict) to sin, Jesus declared, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, NIV). Can you imagine being free to finally partake of one scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream without the compulsion to consume the entire half-gallon? How about being free to check out the benefits of the internet without the compulsion to stay online for hours, wasting precious time with your work, family and friends? True freedom, the kind Jesus offers, is the gift to enjoy life compulsion free.
Because addictions are by nature compulsive – that is to say the freedom to “just say no” is gone – the joys and pleasures of life begin to shrink and disappear. Destructive addictions lie to us by promising that more is always better. If one drink is good, twenty must be fantastic. If sex with my spouse is fun, think how exciting it must be with multiple partners. If two aspirins help me cope, how much more personal pain can I kill with methamphetamines? Sadly, the allure of multiplied fun and pleasure always turns out to be a disappointment with unforeseen consequences.
First disappointment – the law of diminishing returns. It continually takes more to get less. The only good days of drug addiction, if there are any, are the early days. Initial ecstasy is soon replaced by a nagging compulsion to simply kill the pain and make it through yet another miserable day. No longer do the drugs bring fun or pleasure, they are necessary not to be in unbearable pain. Any addiction is the same. For example, since any new sex seems to be good sex, the only really good days of an affair are the early ones. Soon, however, what was exciting deteriorates into the “same ole same ole.” The law of diminishing returns leads to a lifestyle of “always looking never satisfied.” To quote Huey Lewis, addicts are always singing, “I want a new drug.”
The second unforeseen disappointment is the shrinking of life’s joys and pleasures. An alcoholic can only focus on the next drink; a drug addict on the next high; a gambler on the next jaunt to the casino. Some of you know exactly what it is like to be at a wonderful holiday meal with the family, a time you used to look forward to and treasure, yet now you are trying to hide the nervous twitches that betray the fact you would rather be somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else. Friends, family, and loved ones be damned. All that matters now is feeding the monster which is your addiction. And that monster is getting harder and harder to satisfy.
Jesus said to a woman who had been bound, bent over and tormented for eighteen years, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity” (Luke 13:13, NIV). Precious words to any addict. “Who me? Set free?” Yes, God can deliver you from the monsters that are destroying your life. Although the majority of today’s politically correct recovery programs have relegated Jesus and the God of the Bible to a more user friendly “higher power,” the truth remains that nobody does it better than Jesus.
Jesus not only delivers from, he delivers to. It is one thing to be set free from a destructive habit; it is an entirely different thing to be able to sustain that freedom. Relapses are unfortunately common in recovery programs, at times even after years of success. Very often the best that can be hoped for is to replace destructive addictions with more constructive ones. In a recent issue of Golf Digest rock star Alice Cooper (born Vincent Furnier – how scary is that?) confessed that in the 1980’s he was drinking a quart of whisky and half a case of beer every day. “I would vomit blood, and then reach for the bottle. I was going to die.” The son of a preacher rediscovered his faith, and golf. For the last 24 years he has played almost everyday, often 36 holes, sober. “I traded one addiction for another. But golf is the crack of sports. Once I took it seriously, I loved it, and I’ve never tired of playing. It absolutely saved my life” (Golf Digest, December 2006). The article goes on to list numerous rock stars and celebrities who have traded their uninhibited self-destructive addictions for one hopefully more constructive – golf. More than one confesses that golf probably saved their lives. Finally, an addiction I can really relate to!
While I believe strongly in the principle of replacement (exchanging destructive addictions for constructive ones), I believe Jesus, and only Jesus, can deliver us to a whole new order of freedom. Sometimes the exchange of addictions is simply a new and different way of animating a corpse. The new addiction may be better, more acceptable to society, but the addict remains a dead man walking. “Once an addict always an addict” may be a truism that is helpful in gaining and maintaining sobriety, but Jesus can actually bring new life to those dead in their addictions.“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead…. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms”(Ephesians 2:4-6, NLT).
When God brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He did not lead them into another nation with kinder and gentler taskmasters. God delivered them from bondage into the abundance of the Promised Land. The people were free to dream for themselves, to explore and discover their potential, and to build their own lives. When Jesus sees dead men walking, He does not merely give them a new and improved way to walk, He gives them new life. I see dead people; Jesus resurrects them.
points to consider:
How have you personally experienced the resurrection power of Jesus at work in your life?
