One teaching in the Word I’ve used for years is focused on rebellion and recovery and the causes and cure. We use a “15-minute Bible study” on the topic that was first published in In Touch magazine by Dr. Charles Stanley. The causes of rebellion he listed as “impatience, fear, and greed.” We also do a session of the three lowest common denominators of temptation- “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life” from 1 John 2:16 as well as exploring the temptations of Eve (Genesis 3) and Jesus (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-13). Interestingly, we are able to see the former three associated with rebellion as subsets of the latter three temptations described by John in Scripture.
lust of the flesh- IMPATIENCE (“I want what I want and I want it now….feeding the physical pleasure/reward system, having no ability or willingness to delay gratification or indulgence.)
lust of the eyes- GREED (desire for power or wealth) and materialistic pursuits.)
pride of life- FEAR (an unmet need for ego fulfillment and freedom from anxiety/fear of abandonment, or being alone, or of not being “good enough” to be cared for by God, self, or others.)
It doesn’t matter how you frame it, temptation and sin in our lives all boil down to just these same three things that Jesus and Eve confronted…..The things that are common to all humanity. Just 3 things. Rick Warren called them “physical, security, and social instincts”. Regardless of the particular snare that entangles us, the cure is always the same…..a relationship with Christ through confession, repentance, and obedience.
When one says that only someone who has “been there, done that” in the same manner as the one seeking recovery is capable of empathic support and accountably guiding another through addiction or other life recovery issues, the universal nature of the human condition viewed biblically and true cause of temptation and sin is being overlooked They are focusing only on identification with the symptoms of one other, not on dealing with the cause. Commiseration and shared pain by two people may make them both feel better about themselves but that alone will not bring about a cure for the human condition of propensity to succumb to these three lowest common-denominators of temptation.