Defining
Addiction
Someone asked me the other day to define addiction, he
was actually a critic and his question was posed like this, “Most people are
addicted to air and food, define addiction?”
Well let’s look at the secular definition of
addiction and then I will talk about what I believe constitutes addiction. It
is defined as, “The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to
something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to
such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” I believe that most people would agree that
this sums it up pretty well, but the truth is addiction can be subtle and it
can worm its way into your life without you really understanding how
devastating it can become. It makes sense, after all, if addictions announced
their intentions of coming into our lives and if we knew just how much
destruction they would bring we would (of course) not succumb to them, but as I
said—it starts out subtly and before you even realize it you can become
addicted to something…anything!
I told my
friend asking me to define addiction that I believe it is ANYTHING that takes
us away from God and His will for our life! That is a very broad statement I
know, but really we must realize that God does not want us to want anything
more than we want Him. Notice I’m using the word want here for a reason, some
think that an addiction to something means that you NEED it, but really if you
are addicted to something ( or someone), you don’t need it at all, what is
really going on is that you WANT it! And if you want something more than you
want God you are in big trouble and it doesn’t really matter how your addiction
presents itself, by means of a drug, by way of drinking too much alcohol, or
yes for some, even eating too much food. The addiction/s are specific to us not
to God they all destroy our relationship with Him because they take us away
from Him and His will for our lives—that is why they are so dangerous!!!
If you will let Him, God will use
the journey from addiction to freedom (in and through Him) for your good and His glory and you can finally know freedom once and for all!
Maybe you only
looked at addiction the way the secular world does and you never even thought
about God in terms of your addiction keeping you from Him, but here is the Good
News…sometimes it is the very thing He uses to draw you to Him! With God there
is no waste of any kind so He will use what was meant for evil against us for
our good (Genesis 50:20) and (Romans 8:28). I want you to know that as I said
before—addictions are specific to us only and that is because of the different
levels of destruction they can cause in our lives. A heroin addiction will certainly be more destructive to a life than
an addiction to coffee, soda or other foods, probably even cigarettes, but to
God they are all the same if they keep us from Him and we are choosing them
(addictions) instead of looking to Him for what we need and want!
God really
must be your ultimate addiction—remember we determined earlier that an
addiction is an excessive want, but God is the only addiction that can fill
both your needs and your wants. Here is the thing I want people to get if they
don’t understand anything else I want them to get this—If you don’t fill the
void in your heart and life with God you can rehab a million times at the most
expensive facility in the world and it won’t do you a bit of good because He
is the only one who can set you free. Oh, you might give a drug up or quit
drinking but if you don’t fill that void with Him after making it empty (by
giving up the addiction) you will only go back to that same thing or you will
pick up a different addiction—it’s because your spirit is longing for
something, that something is God and until you fill it with Him you will keep
trying to fill that void with something….anything! I believe this is the very
reason people relapse, they haven’t filled the void up with God so they keep
looking for something to fill that hole inside of them.
The world perpetuates
the idea, once an addict always an addict, not so in the Kingdom of God—“If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Hallelujah!
Be set free
today by the power and the blood of Jesus and you will be free indeed! (John
8:36)
Excellent work! There really is freedom in Jesus! He does take the old and makes it new! Thank you Sarah! I know God will use you to bless others!
ReplyDeleteWow! Praise God! Hallelujah, Sis, this is great! And for everyone else you should know that she is a living testimony of the power of God and of what she is writing about.
ReplyDeleteThanks sis! You have also helped me by being obedient to Him! I love you and am so thankful God gave me an identical twin sister to share this journey with. ~
DeleteSarah, this is an amazing article, I actually shared it on my Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimberly, you are a blessing! ~
DeleteStrong follower in Jesus Christ. Freed from bondage of morphine addiction for 2.5 years now. From the other end of addiction I define it as "selfishness." The addiction or personal pleasure is at a higher priority than anything else. I wanted to stop, I did. But I had no reason to. Until the pain exceeded the fear of change I didn't move. The pain was to choose the drugs or my family. I chose family and claimed Christ as my King!
ReplyDeleteGrace upon Grace!
God loves you, He sent His Son for you, He changed my life, He will change yours! Blessings.
Hi Jeff, yes I too believe that living in addiction is living in selfishness..." excessive want" means I want what I want when I want it and I don't really care who it hurts in the process. I'm so glad my message blessed you. Praise God for your deliverance and freedom in Christ! I will soon be sharing some personal experiences so please come back. God bless and keep you! ~
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