What are you addicted to?

Deuteronomy 6:5 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

When we hear the word "addict" we are quick to think of someone who uses drugs, or is an alcoholic, or possibly even someone who can't stop gambling. Out of curiosity, I did a Google search on "addiction". It came back with over 67 million pages. If you start scanning through the results, you can find pages that talk about addiction to all sorts of other things: sex, Starbucks, shopping, video games, food, work, the internet... The list just keeps on going.

Wikipedia gave a nice definition for addiction: "an obsession, compulsion, or excessive psychological dependence". The world says that if you go too far in desiring or needing something, then you are addicted, but it has a hard time deciding what is "too far". That becomes a matter of the social setting you find yourself a part of. What is seen as an addiction in one group might not be seen as one in another (although there are obviously some addictions that are seen as such in pretty much all groups).

As Christians though, we are actually given a standard by God. The verse above from Deuteronomy is part of the instructions that God gave directly to Moses to pass on to the Israelites. God directed that they (and we) are to love God with all that we are. Therefore, anything that gets in the way of that love is something that God requires us to give up. Any such thing that we find ourselves unable to give up could be termed an addiction. It's an excessive dependence on something, and it is getting in the way of loving God.

So what are these things that get in the way of your love for God? Unfortunately, I can't exactly answer that for you. Each of us has a unique personal relationship with God because each of us has a unique personality. Each of us will have different things that come between us and God. There are some things that are obvious and apply to anyone, regardless of personality. The things that God directly warns against in his word are clearly things that need to be eliminated from our lives, but there are other things that get in the way. To discover those things, you have to examine your own life. What things do you desire more than God? What would you be unwilling to give up if God asked? What are you addicted to? Pray that God would reveal these answers to you.

Once God has shown you what stands between you and him, then it's time to do something about that addiction. Unfortunately, that discussion will have to wait until next time... Fortunately, this gives you some time to pray and examine your walk with God.