06 Mar Unidentified Addictions

The most important problem with addictions is that you never know you are addicted till it dawns upon you on that day when you’re already knee-deep in it. It’s a slow fade and we start getting addicted when we start drifting away from God. I’m sure of this because, if you’re still walking with Him, you wouldn’t fall. “Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh”. The truth is when our environment changes, then our priorities change and we start compromising time with God for other things in life. As believers we might ignore the still small voice, as we are busy listening to the sermon, talking about the Grace of God, donating money for charity, advising other Christians, taking Bible study or organizing camps. Yes, the truth hurts. Meanwhile we never lose trace of God though we are practically pretty far from Him. We might have asked Him to hold on/wait or put Him second on priority but the best part is he doesn’t fail at all. He’s not humane to fail.

Now temptations come to play, and we start doing things which doesn’t seem wrong. Here I’m not talking about getting drunk daily but about being addicted to your own self, being addicted to the social things in life, being addicted to worrying about things which you have already cast on God, being addicted to telling stories of what you’re going through to the people around but forgetting that there is a God who is waiting to listen to all of them. If you had continued your walk with Christ and have all these with you, they would know their place and you would know them too. Since you don’t know where you’re Savior is these might dominate your life, even when the Bible is in your hands, the Sunday services are on and you’re regular bible study is pretty much okay.

I would like to illustrate this perspective by an example from physics. All of us know magnets, if we were one, God is the perfect complement of the magnet we are. No man or no thing (nothing) can be the perfect fit of the magnet you are! So when you’re not that perfectly attracted into your complement magnet, the impure fragments of magnet in the world would obviously get attached to you because you live in the magnetic field that is surrounded by evil fragments of magnets. MISS God, MESS life.

Here are some addictions in our lives which may go unidentified. These are what I have identified, there might be others too.

Addicted to taking steps out of our own so called wisdom
There’s a problem at stake, what we do, we pray and try to solve the problem ourselves, only in cases like parting the sea or healing the sick do we let God intervene! Simply, only when we are capable of doing nothing we give God the space to solve our problems for us. For example, all of us will have to wait for a cab, bus or a driver most of the days in our life. Are we keen on making backup plans … or trust God to bring things at the right time? We never let God intervene in our daily lives. This doesn’t mean we should never plan things or have back up but let’s learn to depend on God for every single thing, just like a sheep does to its shepherd. In this case, we can be ADDICTED to God instead of ourselves or others. Had God given a map to Moses instead of a staff, the people of Israel would’ve trusted Him better, but God wanted the Israelites to trust Him for directions. How much more would He be happy if we trust Him for ours! Let’s try not to be addicted to taking rational decisions out of our human wisdom and depend on Him for directions.

Talking about problems
We all love it, don’t we? If there’s one soul to listen to all that we go through in life, WOW. I’m not against sharing things to people or asking them to pray about it but before that, do we go and pour it at God’s feet. The people around might offer help, say kind words, we can pray together, it’s all good. We have to look emphatically on whose consolation, whose words do our heart, trust on. Instead if your first call is to God, then you can be confident in Him and know for sure he’ll lead you in paths you don’t know or will ever know if you don’t trust. Inference, your Savior needn’t be a silent listener to the conversation you have with your friend but will be the ardent listener, immediate speaker, keenly observing every detail of you. Losing ourselves (getting addicted) to telling our lives’ stories can be as devastating as wasting time on the TV, internet, or phone which are accepted forms of addictions! Instead we can be addicted to talking to our Savior through prayer where you needn’t worry of what He will think of you, or whether He is actually listening to you! There is no time limit too!!

A lesson from Peter
You don’t get to walk on water, unless there’s a storm and you’re in the middle of the sea with Jesus by your side! So trust God and experience the walk on water with Jesus. When troubles come, we often tend to wait for the sunshine. We pray hard, pour our tears and wait desperately for deliverance. (James1:2-4). Desperation and despondency are certain forms of addictions which prevent us from learning to walk on water, which might be the very reason for God to let the storm rage on. Instead we can wait for God and count it as an opportunity to get closer to Him. Here, instead of being addicted to worrying, crying and waiting for a result, we can let go and wait at God’s feet. Let’s stop searching for the answers, praying for an escape and Trust God with all our lives.

Emy Florence
The author is doing III year B. Tech. Biotechnology and is a student from Vepery ICEU.