Internal Bondage

We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

When we are under the influence of our addiction, it may feel like its hold has supernatural force. We may give up on living, throwing ourselves into self-destructive behaviors with wild abandonment. People also may give up on us. They may divorce themselves from us, as though we were already dead. Whether our “insanity” is self-induced or even if it has a more sinister origin, there is power to restore us to sanity.

Jesus helped a man who was known to be acting insanely. “This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones” (Mark 5:3-5). Jesus went into the graveyard and assessed the situation. He dealt with the forces of darkness that were afflicting him and restored the man to sanity. He then sent him home to his friends and family.

We may be so far gone that we have broken all restraints. We struggle to be free from the control of society and loved ones. Then we discover that our bondage doesn’t come from outside sources. All hope seems lost; but if there is still life there is still hope. God can come into our “burial caves,” too, and restore us to sanity.

Only a Power greater than ourselves can free us from our bondage.