Your Loved One Is Still in There: Seeing Beyond Addiction

Seeing Addiction Through God’s Eye

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He would enter a new town and not plant a church. Instead, He began healing people, and communities of faith would then form around the miracles. Jesus looked at the individual through our Father’s eyes and saw the true child of God hidden within the suffering person. He saw not only their need for change, but also their CAPACITY to change.

In modern Christianity, people struggling with addiction often find too much judgment and not enough compassion. We look at them through the world’s eyes, not God’s.

Addiction Can Hide the Person You Love

In the depths of addiction, the person we encounter can be held in slavery by a combination of their sinful choices and their biology, conspiring to make change extremely uncomfortable or even dangerous. They may look nothing like the person they were even a year earlier.

We are called by our Lord to try to see these people through God’s eyes and recognize that they contain the same image of God embedded in every human being ever to draw breath. The emotion, pain, and sometimes horrible behaviors can mask that truth, but Jesus sees it and calls us to do the same.

Recovery Is More Than Going Back

At the Dunamis Initiative, we sometimes smile knowingly at the word “recovery.” We use it because it is commonly understood in this arena, but it isn’t entirely accurate. When we recover the data on a corrupted computer, it goes back to where it was before.

But when a severely addicted person recovers from their slavery, they don’t simply return to their previous state. They can go from a dumpster fire to a life on fire for Christ, way beyond where they ever started. That is the power of transformation.

From a Dumpster Fire to a Life on Fire for Christ

Commonly heard in recovery support rooms is the phrase, “Religion is for good people who want to stay out of hell. A true walk with the Spirit is for those who have already been there.”

These are people who have stared the devil in the eye and walked away into the arms of a joyous, waiting Christ. There is no resurrection without a crucifixion. Your loved one is still in there, waiting to be released from their chains.

Don’t allow the person you see in the depths of addiction to convince you that the person God sees is gone.

What Can the Church Do?

National Recovery Month gives us an opportunity not only to celebrate recovery, but to ask what we can do to make recovery possible for more people. For churches, that doesn’t have to mean building a complicated new program.

Starting a Christ-centered recovery ministry is way easier than most people think it will be. It takes far less effort and fewer resources than you might imagine, and the Dunamis Initiative would love to show you how.

Perhaps this National Recovery Month is the perfect time to get off the fence and get this healing rolling. Contact us today, and we’ll walk with you all the way.

Take the Next Step

Whether you’re walking through recovery yourself, supporting someone you love, or wondering how your church can help, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Here are a few places to start.

For Individuals in Recovery

Stepping Into Power
Go deeper into each of the 12 Steps through a Christ-centered lens. Our Stepping Into Power series includes short explainer videos and free Step Guides designed to help you understand and apply each Step in your own recovery journey.

National Recovery Month Resources
September is National Recovery Month. Explore resources from SAMHSA to learn more about recovery, find support, and help spread the message that recovery is possible.

For Loved Ones

Rebuilding Trust After Addiction
Addiction can deeply damage trust, and recovery doesn’t rebuild it overnight. Read our article on rebuilding trust after addiction and what healing can look like for both the person in recovery and those who love them.

Find Support Through PAL
You need support, too. Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL) provides education and peer support for parents, spouses, family members, and friends who have a loved one struggling with substance use.

For Churches

Bring Recovery Into Your Church
Your church doesn’t need to become a treatment center to make a meaningful difference. Dunamis provides Christ-centered resources designed to make starting and leading a peer-led recovery group much simpler than many churches expect.

Learn How to Start a Church Addiction Recovery Ministry
Not sure what starting a group actually involves? Read our practical guide to what churches need, what they don’t need, and how to take the first steps.

Explore Church Resources + Download the New Group One-Pager
Visit our Church Resource Center to learn more about Dunamis groups and download the New Group One-Pager to share with pastors, ministry leaders, or others at your church.