LIVING AN ADDICTION FREE LIFE
Everybody values personal
freedom and independence. One can never fully appreciate this basic, essential
right in life until one loses it to incarceration, debilitating illness,
disability or addiction. I am sure when you read the word ‘addiction’ your mind
goes straight to drug addiction. But then there are so many others things we
get subtly addicted to and do not view as a problem. So what is an addiction?
An addiction to something
is a very strong desire or need for it. Personally, I am convinced that the
only very strong desire or need I should have in my life is God. The Psalmist talks
about thirsting after God. “As the deer panteth for water.” That creates an
analogy that the psalmist could not do without God. How many of us truly sense
a craving or longing to be in God’s presence continually?
A person addicted to
illicit drugs or even the more socially acceptable substance – alcohol, is
uncomfortable and experiences withdrawal symptoms when they have been without
it for a while. Do we have withdrawal symptoms when we have not spent quality
time with God in days or weeks?
I remember an incident
that happened in my undergraduate days. My brothers and I went into a
supermarket to buy some things. The younger of the two – Eloka, (now of blessed
memory) asked my eldest brother to buy something for him. I forget now exactly
what it was. Our eldest brother looked at the item in question and asked him only
one question:
“Do you really,
desperately, direly need it?”
Eloka replied in the
negative and said that with all the adjectives used to qualify the word ‘need’,
he knew that the only need he had in his life that was real, desperate and dire
was more of God.
That qualification
definitely got my big Bro off the hook! Lol!
Over the years, I have
tried to maintain some degree of detachment from things. When I find myself
becoming unduly attached to things, I consciously give myself a breather or a time
out. Often times I find that after the time out, the craving for that thing
usually reduces and I am free!
Please write a comment,
tweet or send an e-mail telling me the kind of things one could get addicted to
and your personal challenges or struggles in this area.
Till next post, please
stay in boundaries where God’s love can reach you and richly bless you!
Your friend,
Camba
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