Who is your master? You’re a slave and don’t even know it.
According to Webster's Dictionary, a slave has two prominent definitions. The first states: “A person held in servitude as the chattel of another.” The second goes even deeper: “One that is completely subservient to a dominating influence.”
Addiction does just that. It becomes your taskmaster, and you become its slave. Addiction demands complete, unadulterated devotion, worship, and servitude. It requires great sacrifice, and even then, it is not satisfied. It says that you must do everything and anything to feed its appetite. Its cravings are fiercer than the largest grizzly bear or the
mightiest lion. Because of our servitude, we abide by whatever addiction asks.
We never count the cost. We never think about what we are losing to feed this domineering force. I have seen mothers forsake their children and sacrifice that righteous bond for a needle in their arm. I have seen fathers sell everything they own, including their very souls, to keep the high for just a little longer. Addiction does not care. It says that nothing is above it. It is no respecter of persons. It wants to kill everyone the same. It holds you in its clutches until it takes your life. Even then, it wants more. It will carry on to someone else, seeking their souls as well.
Wow, we are slaves and don’t even know it! We don’t see the condition that we are truly in. We have become N.U.M.B. This acronym stands for Not Understanding My Behavior. When we are locked into the grips of addiction, we become desensitized by it. We don’t understand what our behavior is doing to ourselves or those around us. The drugs create a box that keeps just it and ourselves locked in and chained together. To begin the process of healing, we need to come to terms with our condition. We need to own it. “Look at what my life has become, look at what I have done.” When we recognize it and own it, we can begin to change it.
Yet how do we get to that point of cognitively recognizing our condition? When do we become aware or awake? I have seen parents lose their children to the system. Even that would not trigger that light bulb of self-realization. That look at my world. Look at the reality I have created. I have made a mess of things. That didn’t do it. I have seen several people overdose, and thanks to the life-saving Narcan administered by a police officer, lived to see another day. Even then, that would not do it. So what does? What brings a person to that point of self-realization and the yearning to change? It takes brokenness.
In 1831, there was the Nat Turner Rebellion, a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia. During this revolt, the slaves, led by Nat Turner, turned on their masters and eventually killed 55 to 65 people. The slaves had become tired of their condition and treatment and rose up against their masters. We must come to that point as well. See, there is a righteous anger to be found within the arena of brokenness. It is that anger that motivates us to make the necessary changes to begin recovery. We can’t just recognize the problem and leave it to sit and become like cancer, malignant and continuing to spread. We must become equally as aggressive in beating our master as we were in serving him. It is important for us to remember to use our anger in positive and creative ways to overcome the taskmaster of addiction. It is not an easy path to take, but it is one that leads to absolute victory.
When we realize that our life has become unmanageable, we have taken the first great step to lasting recovery and complete healing. Now you have called out your enemy. You see him for the first time clearly. Now it is time to break free and say, "I’m not going back." Addiction, though, does not let go quietly. It puts up a fight. It runs after you. It stalks you around every corner, waiting for just one moment of weakness. It is important to find those you can lean on while on the path to recovery. Surround yourself with support, seek help, and remember that breaking free from the chains of addiction is possible. It starts with recognizing your master, understanding your behavior, and harnessing the power of righteous anger to reclaim your life.
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