When you face a problem in your life a natural response may be to educate yourself about it. It makes sense to think that the more we learn about an issue, the greater our odds our in finding the answer.
But I want to submit an idea to you…it is possible to always be learning about something and yet still remain ignorant of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:7 teaches that it is possible to be “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
I’m an expert. Now where’s my freedom?”
There was a time in my life when I wanted to be free from my addiction to drugs and alcohol. I completed an intense 28 day inpatient treatment program (which had a price tag of $17,000), transitioned to an outpatient group, attended AA meetings every night, devoured self-help books, and even enrolled in an addiction counselor program at college.
During this time (about 9 months) I was “always learning” about addiction and could easily explain the psychological and biological components of it. I could quote statistics and had a wealth of knowledge related to addiction. But one night during one of my classes at college I had an interesting experience.
The teacher was talking, in great detail, about cocaine (my drug of choice) use which triggered a craving. I started to sweat and feel very awkward. As this was happening a classmate leaned over and asked if I was OK.
I was not OK and was actually very angry about it! I had invested so much time and money in learning about this stupid disease of addiction and yet all the knowledge in the world couldn’t set me free!
Surprised by Freedom
For the sake of time let’s fast forward to my post born again experience and my deliverance from addiction. Today after six years of being clean and sober, I am walking in freedom from addiction! I no longer have cravings for drugs or alcohol. And I don’t live with the fear that I will use again.
So…what happened?
Did I finally get my hands on that one self-help book that really did it for me? Was it that special addictions class I took? No, by God’s grace, I came to the experiential knowledge of the truth which is Jesus Christ.
As I came to the Truth I realized I was a slave to the sin of addiction and there were demons in me that had to be dealt with… Whoa, awkward! Did you say demons? Did you know we are in the 21st century not the middle ages?
Truth: It Is What It Is
The thing about truth is that it doesn’t change (contrary to popular belief). It is what it is. So whether I believed Christians could have demons or not didn’t matter. Whether I believed there was a demonic aspect to my addiction didn’t matter. The fact of the matter was that, even with all my knowledge, I was still powerless to change until I came to the truth.
So let’s continue in our learning but at the same time remember it is only a means to come to the knowledge of the truth. Learning just for the sake of learning is interesting but not life changing…So I hope you learned something 
About Josh Monen
Josh is a Christian entrepreneur who lives in Central Texas with his wife and 4 kids.
Hey Josh,
I had an experience similar to what you described in that class. I was at this Christian conference on being free from sexual sin. This guy was lecturing and going in-depth about how pornography cause an intense physiologic reaction with a big dopamine release and so on. I guess he was saying that as a warning but as he talked on and on about dopamine and so on it actually caused me to become very tempted. I later told a friend I went with that I thought that kind of lecture was worthless. I guess if you’ve never become addicted to something maybe a lecture like that would be a worthwhile warning but if you already struggle with an addiction, just hearing someone talk about dopamine release will only remind you of how much you enjoyed your drug or porn or whatever.
But there is freedom in Christ! And I thank you that you have been a brother who has reminded me of that fact even when I doubted.
Matt Perkins recently posted..Mercy- Power- Glory
Hey Matt, thanks for sharing that story. It sounds just like what happened to me.
The truth that there really is freedom in Christ is awesome! Thanks bro.
Amen !!