Warning: Addiction

One aspect of addiction is denial.  Again, we think in terms of the strung-out junkie or drunk who slurs, "I can quit anytime I want." but in reality we are often quietly in denial that what we are doing is really a big deal.  I just like chicken, I need my coffee, I enjoy playing Angry Birds, its no big deal.  The truth contained in these statements make them easy to use to deflect the fact that this things are controlling parts of our lives and shaping our decisions, not always for good.  Since the consequences are minor and in small doses, we deny them.  I've been really busy this week so I didn't get everything done.  I totally ignore/forget the fact that I spent an hour surfing news sites or watching YouTube.    I didn't have time to read my Bible today but I did finish 3 rounds of Angry Birds.   I'm an addict in denial.  Don't worry, everybody's doing it.

That's the next thing we do.  Another part of addiction is blame shifting.  It isn't our fault, it is the product.  They should have warned me.  Here's an article about a woman who died after she drank an average of 2.6 gallons of Coke a day (in addition to smoking and skipping meals).  The saddest part of that story is that the coroner concluded that she and her family thought it was ok because there was no warning label on the soda.  Really!?  That rock should have come with a warning label that it was heavy so I would know not to drop it on my toe or throw it at you.  I couldn't put the book down, the story should have come with a warning label.  At least my jar of peanut butter came with a label warning me that there was peanuts in it!  That was a close call!!

There are of course warning labels that make sense. The problem is that in our addiction, we try to shift the blame away from our choices and poor decisions.  We allow these things to take a measure of control over our lives because it is easy, because we like it, and because to fight it doesn't seem worth the effort.   If the consequences are small or too far away, we can deny them and allow these things to control our lives.  Its easier to be dependent on coffee than to get enough sleep, it is easier to rest my brain on the internet or android phone app than to pick up the Word of God.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)

The Biblical idea of fasting was to put aside the demands that our flesh makes to focus on God and clear away the "earthly" demands of our bodies.  Fasting does not make the statement that food is evil, but it is an effort of putting even this basic drive aside in favor of God.  What should you be fasting from?  What small, innocuous things have a measure of control over your life, your decisions, your time, your mood, your health?  What thing is mastering part of you, probably with your willing cooperation?  Maybe you should try a fast.  Take a period of time and break the mastery of some things.  Take a week and cut out Facebook, or internet videos, or the non-essential apps on your smart phone, or coffee, or chips, or swearing, or...whatever.  Examine what denial has crept into your life to help you excuse something that, while not evil, does have at least some small degree of mastery in your life.

I still eat chicken wings and I still have coca-cola.  I no longer keep either on hand in this house and I sometimes go weeks between times I have them.  While I must be forever vigilant, they no longer are dictating my meals, or my sugar/cholesterol levels.   There are days I still reach for the caffeine to get me through and that's one I need to work on.

This is a battle I will forever fight while on earth, but my flesh requires constant supervision because my flesh is an addict!