Thursday, November 15, 2012

addictions

I heard a very profound statement on the radio today.  It's been stirring in my spirit all afternoon and evening.  I guess I'm going to work out my issues on your time.  There's my disclaimer :)

"Addiction is not an illness.  It is misplaced worship; basically, it's idolatry."

Whoa.  That kind of rocks me at my core.
When I googled "addiction", I found it is defined as "devotion; great interest in a particular thing to which a lot of time is devoted".  That sounds very similar to worship.

I guess that means addiction is NOT an illness.  It's a choice to place something in my life before Jesus.
Can it be said that addiction is like filling the God shaped hole in our hearts with something else?  Something that will leave us feeling empty, alone, unloved?
What do you think?

I like to think I don't have any addictions.  That it's never been a problem for me.
But then I remembered some things I've really enjoyed for a time but later regreted.  Maybe I regreted them as soon as I was finished.  Or maybe I regreted them a while later.  Like...

Diet Coke (gallons and gallons of diet coke!)
Shopping...for a lot of shoes ;)
Approval from men
Eating...a lot of eating

Thank goodness, a cigarette has never crossed my lips.  Otherwise, I'm sure that would be on the list.  Or gambling.  I'm sure I would totally get caught up in that too, if given the chance.
Are there healthy addictions?  Is it ok for me to be addicted to eating healthy?  to running?  to spending time with my sweet man?

If something is more important to me than spending time with my Savior, it's not healthy.  I can get pretty grumpy if I don't get a run in most days.  Does that mean I'm addicted?  Dang it. 

I guess I'm going to have to do some serious soul searching.  I'm going to have to evaluate my priorities.  I love my alone time with Jesus while I'm running.  Does that mean it's ok?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on addictions.  Are all addictions bad?

Yes, yes I do ...

4 comments:

Chad and Jody said...

some of my best moments in life are when I'm outside walking with God. I don't know that I'd call that an addiction, but didn't you say in this post that you're addicted to running AND you said you love your time with God? So, maybe you're addicted to your time with God. That doesn't sound so bad to me!

Dad said...

That is something I will have to think about for a while. Maybe to start with the movtive behind why we do what we do.

Mitch said...

Not as long as your addicted to love. And me. ; )

Amy said...

Mitch's comment makes me laugh. :)