My addiction - part one

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
(Matthew 6:24 NLT)

Denial, the truth is we all have addictions but sadly few ever realize it before it is too late. In many ways the alcoholic or drug addict are closer to recovery than many, more “acceptable”, more “respectable” people we know and deal with in our everyday lives. Why, because they have hit bottom and they know they have a problem, while everyone else tries to keep up the illusion that they are strong enough.

Addictions are not just connected to illegal activity, addictions are anything that controls you. It is the girl who eats to make herself feel better, it is the guy who can’t help but respond in anger because things did not go his way. An addiction is anything that controls what you do, beyond reason, without explanation, it is what you default to without thought and then wonder why you keep doing it over and over even though you know better.

An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
(Proverbs 5:22-23 NLT)

Who is this “evil man”? He is all of us until we come to Jesus, sacrificing our own will for His. To do the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Identify your addiction, is it gossip, is it sex, what about work or money? There are as many types of addictions as there are people and yes, becoming saved and accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is a step in the right direction but many, many Christians still have addictions. Accepting Christ as Savior is not the end but the beginning. A person may give up alcohol when he comes to Jesus but still has to come to terms with the anger that drove him to drinking. As you walk with Jesus you will find there are layers of addictions, as the outer layer is removed you will feel clean until your realize there is still another layer that needs to be dealt with. All these things take us the wrong direction because it takes our eyes off of God but as each layer is removed we grow closer to God. Look at what Proverbs says about the lack of self-control:

Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.
(Proverbs 13:3 NLT)

People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.
(Proverbs 14:29 NLT)

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.
(Proverbs 16:32 NLT)

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
(Proverbs 25:28 NLT)

We’ve all heard it said that God uses difficult situations to make us stronger but have you ever stopped to think about what that really means? God doesn’t have to put us in difficult situations we do just fine on our own. The fact that we can’t see that is evidence we are in denial. It is in fact our addictions, our tendencies, our short sightedness that lead us to the difficulties we are currently in, even when they seem unrelated. God is good and instead of shielding us from our own bad decisions He walks through it with us. He does not enable us to keep acting badly but turns us to what is good and honest. It is time to stop the insanity, examine ourselves, and give control over to God. Yes, the first step in healing is to admit our denial.