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What Is the Wallet Analogy?

Ken Makimsy Middleton is a recovering, almost rabidly-passionate-ex-drunk who wrote Bamboozled: How Alcohol Makes Fools of Us All. During a YouTube show with Jeff Graham, they came up with the “wallet analogy.” I read their perception-changing idea a couple weeks ago and have been mulling it over ever since. Though not exactly groundbreaking, could this sobriety tool also be useful to us after salvation?

So here it is…

Imagine you’re walking down the street minding your own business. Out of nowhere, a big, scary-looking man comes up to you and demands you give him your wallet. It doesn’t appear that he has a knife or gun or anything, but he is much bigger than you and could probably rough you up pretty well if push came to shove.

Now, there’s nothing special about this wallet. You just bought it and have no sentimental attachment to it at all. It’s just a three-dollar piece of material that you bought at Target and can easily replace by spending another three dollars. In your mind you think, “It’s not worth getting beat up or potentially even losing my life over,” so you hand it to the big, scary-looking man.

On the flip side, what if you’ve had the wallet for a while? Instead of being brand new, it is worn and tattered and full of things that are going to be hard to replace, e.g., pictures of your family, credit cards, and your driver’s license. You know it’ll be a lot of work to replace all of the things that you’ve stored and invested in that wallet for all of those years. You know there are some things in there you won’t be able to replace at all.

Would you be willing to so easily hand that wallet over, or would you put up a fight?

First, how does this relate to sobriety and recovery?

Simple. Middleton says that we have to focus on pushing ourselves to grow into someone that we couldn’t be while we were drunk. What could we become in sobriety? What skills could we learn? What relationships could we cultivate that were impossible when addiction dictated our every waking hour?

“This focus will then make you realize that for you to continue on your course and gain the skill or ability that you are working on, you could never go back to drinking alcohol.”

“Therefore, my wallet is filled with all the time and energy I’ve put into learning this skill and this makes me refuse to allow the thought of drinking to come back into my life for fear of risk losing it. Alcohol is no longer something that I desire.”

With a lofty goal established, the consequences of drinking (and not reaching the goal) make alcohol undesirable.

This caused me to wonder… Could the wallet analogy also fit us after we commit ourselves to following Jesus?

What can I focus my attention on now, that wasn’t achievable before my salvation? Who can I become with study, prayer, action, and sanctification that I could not even imagine when I was lost and undisciplined?

When I focus on a future that requires a much higher version of myself, I’m considerably less willing to just “hand over the wallet” when that big, scary-looking man (temptation to sin) jumps out of nowhere. I can’t get to where God wants me if I’m not willing to put up an occasional fight.

So I just have to ask… What’s in your wallet?

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