Am I Crazy for Supporting the Addict I Love?

It’s always easy for people to say what they would do if they were in your shoes.

“If I were you, I’d walk away.”“I’d be done by now.”“I’d stop letting them hurt me.”

That’s easy to say when you’re not the one living it.

The truth is, if they were you, they don’t actually know what they’d do. Because they aren’t loving someone in the middle of addiction. They aren’t carrying the history, the memories, the moments of clarity mixed in with the chaos.

They don’t understand that you love someone who keeps hurting you.

Yes, the cycle repeats. Promises are made. Promises are broken. Forgiveness is extended. Then it happens again. Friends and family watch it all from the outside and start to wonder if you’ve lost your mind.

They tell you to quit.To move on.To stop hoping.

They tell you the situation is hopeless. That the addict will never change. That continuing to love them makes you foolish.

Some even say it outright.

You’re crazy.

But you’re not crazy.

You just believe in a few things that don’t make sense to people who are only looking at the situation through logic and pain.

There are three things you’ve been holding onto that make you look crazy. Sometimes they even make you feel crazy. But abandoning them would be the most reckless thing you could do.

They’re found in a single verse.

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”1 Corinthians 13:13

Is it really crazy to hold onto the things Scripture says will last forever?

What seems far more irrational is trying to survive addiction using things that don’t last. Things that crumble under pressure. Things that fade when the situation doesn’t improve.

Faith, hope, and love may look foolish from the outside. But they’re not fragile. They endure.

And chances are, you already know this — even if you’ve never put words to it.

Let’s talk about them.

Faith.

Faith gives us assurance about things we cannot yet see.

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”Hebrews 11:1

When you love someone who keeps relapsing, breaking promises, and disappointing everyone around them, faith is the only reason you don’t give up entirely. Faith doesn’t deny reality. It just refuses to believe that today’s reality is the final word.

Your friends see only patterns.You see possibility.

That’s why they think you’re crazy.

Hope.

Hope is closely related to faith, but it carries a different weight. Faith says change can happen. Hope says it will.

Hope looks beyond what is visible right now. While others measure the situation by outward behavior, hope quietly insists that the story isn’t finished yet.

That kind of hope makes people uncomfortable. Especially people who have already decided how this ends.

Love.

Love is the one Scripture calls the greatest.

Not because it’s easy.Because it costs the most.

Love, in its truest form, is choosing someone’s good even when it hurts you. It’s Jesus praying for forgiveness over the people who were actively crucifying Him.

Love is willing to endure pain for the sake of redemption.

That doesn’t mean allowing abuse. It doesn’t mean tolerating destruction. And it certainly doesn’t mean losing wisdom or boundaries.

But it does mean refusing to stop loving simply because love is inconvenient.

In a world where love is defined by comfort and reciprocity, real love looks irrational. Especially when it’s directed toward someone who keeps falling.

But that’s only because people are judging the situation by what’s temporary.

You’re holding onto what lasts.

So no — you’re not crazy.

You’re holding faith when others have quit believing.You’re holding hope when others have settled for despair.You’re holding love when others have closed their hearts.

And those three things will still be standing long after the noise dies down.