Is smoking wrong, and what if I don’t want to stop?

Is smoking wrong, and what if I don’t want to stop?

Asked by john

i am a christian and i smoke i like to smoke cigarets i do not have a
desire to stop is this wrong i know i should stop but right now i dont want
to what do i do?

The Bible doesn’t directly talk about smoking. So there’s no verse in the Bible that says “you should not smoke.” In this sense it is not wrong in and of itself.

However, many Christians are uneasy about smoking because it is addictive. As a result, they believe it conflicts with the apostle Paul’s aim not to “be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Another thing to keep in mind is that following Jesus involves giving your whole life to him and to the gospel (Mark 8:34-35). That means that Christians want to do everything they can to help people to know Jesus and to obtain eternal life by believing in him (see John 3:16 and John 3:36). Many feel that smoking would restrict their service of Jesus and the gospel, because it is likely to reduce the lifetime available for “fruitful labour” (see Philippians 1:22-25), or the money they are able to contribute to helping people learn about Jesus. It might also cause offense to others (see 1 Corinthians 10:32-33), or be considered antisocial, and so some Christians don’t smoke for that reason.

If you think you ought to stop, but you don’t want to, then ask God to help you with your desires. God promises to answer our prayers for good things (Matthew 7:7-11), and his Spirit is at work to transform us (Galatians 5:16). Similarly, when you do decide you want to stop, pray for God’s help and trust him to give you strength. That doesn’t mean it will necessarily be easy. If you decide to give up smoking out of love for Jesus, then when you’re tempted to smoke it will help to keep thinking about his beauty and his love for you (see 2 Corinthians 5:14-15). And since God often uses other people to help us, you could also consult services like Quitline (http://www.quitnow.info.au/).

Answers are kindly provided by our friends at Christianity.net.au

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