Chance the Rapper gives God the glory after quitting cigarettes while on sabbatical
Chance the Rapper has given God the glory after successfully giving up cigarettes while taking a sabbatical to study the Word of God.
The Chicago-based rapper made the announcement on Instagram, writing: “Today is my 7th day ZERO CIGARETTES #leaveitatthealter.” The 25-year-old artist also shared a screenshot of Ephesians 3:20: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
Chance has previously opened up about his addiction to cigarettes — even naming a song on his album "Chain Smoker” — and revealed he was attempting to break the longstanding habit in a May Twitter post.
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“Man, cigarettes are not a cool thing,” he told xxxlmag.com. “I never want to push that on to people. It's just been a big part of my life, reluctantly, because I've been addicted to cigarettes for a long time. I think there's something super poetic about cigarettes. I asked a question one time like, ‘Why do you toss the filter?’ It's like the only part of the cigarette that's saving you, but we toss it at the end. It's a weird question.”
Chance’s decision to quit smoking comes amid his sabbatical to “study the Word of God.” Earlier in December, he announced that he plans to read “five or more books from Bible” to get to know Jesus Christ on a deeper level.
“I’m on a plane headed out the country on my first sabbatical,” the artist wrote. “I’m going away to learn the Word of God which I am admittedly very unfamiliar with. I’ve been brought up by my family to know Christ, but I haven’t taken it upon myself to really just take a couple of days and read my Bible. We all quote scripture and tell each other what God likes and doesn’t like, but how much time do we spend as followers of Jesus to really just read and KNOW His Word. I’m definitely guilty of not devoting time to it.”
Chance went on to explain that he made the decision to take a sabbatical following the birth of his nephew, Charlie Matthew.
“He’s the first boy of the next line and he needs his uncle to be educated,” he explained. “So don't bother me, I'll be back soon enough, with five or more books from Bible read.”
The artist later revealed he’d successfully read through three books of the Bible: “Otw to the second half of sabbatical,” he captioned a photo of himself holding his photo of his 3-year-old daughter, Kensli. “I read Romans, James and Galatians and I’m currently on day 4 of ZERO CIGARETTES. I feel really good right now, thank u Father. #leaveitatthealter.”
In a subsequent post, Chance shared a page from A Diary of Private Prayer, a devotional from the Scottish theologian John Baillie that contains prayers for the morning and evening.
Chance’s spiritual journey has inspired others. Rapper Kanye West recently credited the younger artist for helping reconnect him to his Christian faith. “I need to speak about how Chance demanding that we record in Chicago reconnected me with my roots and also my faith in Jesus Christ,” he tweeted on Dec. 15.
