Q104_062626 Rom. 6:13 Are You Fighting The Wrong Battle?Q104_062626 Rom. 6:13 Are You Fighting The Wrong Battle?
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on Romans 6 and suggests many people in addiction may be fighting the wrong battle by focusing on their behaviour rather than their relationship with God. Using Jacob’s wrestle as a picture, he talks about shifting from obsession with sin to a steady trust in God’s mercy and a new identity in Christ.
14:38•26 Jun 2026
Are You Fighting the Wrong Battle in Your Recovery?
Episode Overview
- Many people in addiction focus on fighting their specific habit instead of examining what they believe about their standing with God.
- Anxious, fear-filled prayers may reflect a belief that God’s acceptance depends on constant victory over sin.
- Jacob’s wrestle shows a shift from fearing other people to grappling with God and identity, offering a picture for those in recovery.
- It is possible to become "addicted to addiction" by obsessing over overcoming sin rather than trusting God’s mercy amid ongoing weakness.
- Anchoring identity in Christ and God’s kindness can strengthen a person’s ability to say no to temptation and resist despair.
“Do you realise that you can be addicted to addiction? You can be as addicted to overcoming something as you can be addicted to indulging in that thing.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This instalment of "How it Happens" with Colin Cook steers straight into that question by asking whether many people are actually fighting the wrong battle.
Drawing from Romans 6 and the idea of being "dead to sin" in the kingdom of Christ, Colin talks about how many people in addiction – whether it’s alcohol, drugs, food, sex, pornography, or even obsessive worry – end up wrestling their “drug of choice” instead of their beliefs about God.
He paints a picture of anxious, almost panicky prayers: "Oh God, be merciful to me, please help me, please help me," and shows how those kinds of prayers often come from fear that God’s love rises and falls with each success or failure. To make the point, Colin retells the story of Jacob and Esau, focusing on Jacob’s long night of wrestling.
At first Jacob fears his brother; by dawn he realises the real struggle is with God and his own identity. Colin highlights that moment where Jacob clings on and says, "I’m not going to let you go unless you bless me," and links it to how people in recovery might shift from obsessing over behaviour to clinging to God’s mercy.
He even warns that "you can be addicted to addiction" – so fixated on overcoming sin that it becomes yet another obsession. Instead, the emphasis moves to questions like, "Who am I while I'm a broken human being?" and "How merciful is God really towards me?" From there, Colin explains how a steady confidence in God’s grace can actually make it easier to say no to temptation, because "Christ is my righteousness.
Christ is my new identity." Anyone wrestling with recurring relapse, guilt, and fear of divine rejection will find plenty to think about here, especially if they’ve ever wondered whether their real struggle is less about the substance and more about their relationship with God. How might your battle look if the focus shifted from your addiction to your identity?
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