Mara Tyler explains: “An addiction is a chronic dysfunction of the brain system that involves reward, motivation, and memory. It’s in regards to the way your body craves a substance or behavior, especially if it causes a compulsive or obsessive pursuit of ‘reward’ and lack of concern over consequences.” We easily judge or feel pity for alcoholics and drug addicts, as if their problem is to date faraway from any sin we’d ever fall prey to. We regard their problem as an addiction and pat ourselves on the back for NOT having any addictions of our own. But addiction is insidious: it sneaks into almost all and sundry’s behaviors or thought patterns (or each) within the guise of bad habits and even good ones. Perhaps addiction has not taken over your whole life, leaving you helpless and confused, but one thing does invade your thoughts greater than another, and also you even recognize signs of withdrawal. Ask God to look and “know if there be any grievous way in me.” (Psalm 139:24). Listen as he reveals your misdirected worship.
1. Are You Addicted to Work?
Someone might call you a workaholic, half-jokingly. Secretly, nevertheless, you are feeling powerless to depart work on the office or to return home in any respect. There are many excuses. No one else knows the best way to do your job. Your role is particularly essential. The time beyond regulation is simply too good to pass up.
Other relationships suffer when work is Number One, especially an individual’s relationship with God. He does promote a powerful work ethic –
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and never for men.” – Colossians 3:23
On the opposite hand, he reminds us that the outcomes of our work are in his hands, and he expects us to rest.
“It is in vain that you just stand up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” – Psalm 127:2
When relations and friends say they miss you and need to spend more time with you, your response is indignant and scornful. No one understands. Taking a day and even a number of hours off of labor makes you anxious. Others are hurting because they know you care more about your job than them. Any argument from you is futile since the proof is in your actions. Worst of all, work has grow to be your functional god, enslaving you and consuming your thoughts. As relationships crumble, what you might be most anxious about are the hours when you’re absent from the office.
2. Do You Have an Anger Addiction?
Whether you grumble quietly or explode with rage, these (and lots of other subtle actions, like making fists or rolling your eyes) are signs of anger. How do you regard the person in front of you? With respect or scorn? Remember that Jesus equated anger with murder. (Matthew 5:22) Anger is on a spectrum from annoyance to outright rage.
“But I say, should you are even indignant with someone, you might be subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you might be at risk of being brought before the court. And should you curse someone, you might be at risk of the fires of hell.” – Matthew 5:22
Frequently, we grow to be indignant because someone just isn’t following the foundations we set. We expect others to agree with us. We demand respect. We feel undervalued and are generally consumed with “self.” Often, an indignant person is brittle inside a crispy, unapproachable shell. Do you feed the narrative that you have got been wronged, and when you possibly can now not get riled up a few situation, you search for a latest one to make you mad? An indignant person doesn’t know his or herself in another mind-set.
Anger, says Leon F Seltzer PhD, gives you a sense of “righteousness and control, even dignity and respect.” Moreover, anger is accompanied by an adrenaline rush, which “further accentuates your sense of wronged virtue. So naturally, you are feeling morally superior to whoever or whatever provoked you in the primary place.” To this end, the environment across the indignant addict emotionally resembles a field of broken glass and landmines.
Are family members and colleagues guarded, uncomfortable, or afraid around you, and do you even care? Anger could possibly be your addiction, a crutch to guard yourself. Maybe you will discover yourself pondering quite a bit in regards to the next time someone will make you indignant and what you’ll do then. This is your idol – the thing of your worship. A deal with God would lead you to repentance. As Scripture says,
“The anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.” – James 1:20
3. Can Exercise Become an Addition?
The body-conscious world we live in promotes and values thin physiques. At the very least, fit persons are lauded. We wish to be strong with a view to live healthy, fulfilling lives through which we help our communities and avoid being a drain on the system. The Christian is anxious to steward his or her body to the glory of God, for,
“You are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you.” – 1 Corinthians 3:16
To that end, we must exercise. Countless web sites, apps, gyms, and fitness channels are dedicated to how we will construct fitter, leaner bodies, look good in a showering suit, and live to be 100 while appearing 20 years younger. Firstly, no body or person is to be more greatly esteemed than another. Romans 2:11 says,
“God shows no partiality.”
Secondly, good health is a positive goal when addressed holistically—that’s when one prioritizes mental and spiritual health in addition to physical health. Thirdly, a healthy body doesn’t have to be thin; all and sundry’s body is designed in a different way. Competitiveness helps us to set goals and motivates us. But it could also turn into an obsession. What starts with breaking personal records for speed, duration, or variety of goals scored turns into pressure to workout longer and burn more calories. What are you sacrificing to realize these items? Just some sweat, possibly an hour daily, or an additional hour of sleep is just commitment. Then again, did you say “no” to a job, a relationship, or a field trip along with your kids since it interfered with aerobics class or the running club’s schedule?
Maybe an hour a day has became 2 hours a day, daily, and you utilize exercise as punishment while you eat something sweet. According to Rosie Woodbridge and Simon Poole, “Performance may be the thing that we live for. We may claim that we’re training hard to glorify God, but […] we will idolize the effect that exercise has on our bodies.” The author quotes Romans 1:25, wherein Paul wrote:
“They exchanged the reality about God for a lie and worshipped and served created things slightly than the Creator.”
4. When Does Social Media Become an Addiction?
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only corresponding to is sweet for increase, as suits the occasion, that it might give grace to those that hear.” – Ephesians 4:29
Addiction to social media leads people to forget this teaching. We engage with demeaning posts, post “news” that is admittedly just gossip, and scroll through lies, unkindness, and even tragedy without feeling or pondering a complete lot, as if merely reading a comic book book online. Experts say that social media addiction follows the identical pattern as substance abuse, which impacts mental health and results in interpersonal conflict. An individual would require increasingly time on a given platform and experience withdrawal through the ever-shortening intervals. “Neuroscientists have compared social media interaction to a syringe of dopamine being injected straight into the system.”
What is the Biblical reference for something that was popularized inside the last 20 years? Paul Poteat breaks it down through the use of the Apostle Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3 as a yardstick. He tells us to “placed on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience [but] social media creates […] apathy, meanness, pride, self-promotion, and hurry. So putting on that’s needed, which is definitely something that social media is somewhat antithetical to.”
What do you place on while you read or post on social media? Is your social media platform the very first thing you take a look at each day and the last item you read at night? What does it take so that you can drag yourself away from posts and people delicious “pings” that let you know someone liked your post? If you truthfully calculated the variety of hours spent online in this manner, the result could possibly be a signal that social media is an issue.
5. Are You Addicted to Gossip?
Gossip mixes lies, distortions, and indiscretions. You see two people together and draw the conclusion that they’re having an affair, then you definitely tell a number of people who find themselves apt to spread the “news,” and shortly the 2 individuals are facing wrathful employers or spouses. At the time, you were only concerned about your longing to feel essential since you possessed information nobody else had. Fulfilling a direct need without concern for the results is a feature of addiction.
While aiming to disprove the concept of gossip as an addiction, Mark D. Griffiths cited many sources that highlight the connection, including one that means that the rumor-monger is erecting a private defense mechanism or attempting to construct a social network. In other words, we will make ourselves feel protected by turning the highlight on another person’s status, after which when others take heed to our stories, we gain a connection. Addicts benefit from the rewards, although they know they need to stop telling stories or listening to them. God’s glory is unimportant compared with the joys of spinning a story. Proverbs 16:28 warns that
“A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”
No wonder God has commanded, “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.” (Exodus 23:1)
Experts might argue that these usually are not true addictions because there isn’t any real change in brain chemistry. Other professionals would indicate the dearth of consideration towards others, the cravings, and the anxiety related to these behaviors. A Christian counselor would also ask about motivation: self-defense, safety, self-importance, or self-punishment, for instance. Since we’re all broken and needy, apt to worship something or someone apart from God, this could keep us humble and motivate our compassion as we guide fellow Christians toward honest self-examination. We are instructed, as members of the Body of Christ, to lovingly offer this service and to gratefully receive the identical.
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the injuries of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” – Proverbs 27:5-6
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/addiction
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201811/why-you-secretly-enjoy-getting-angry
https://christiansinsport.org.uk/resources/the-dangers-of-exercise-addiction/
https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/social-media-warning-label/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201608/addicted-gossip
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