Musings on Spiritual Matters

All people do.  It might be different forms but the basic patterns are the same.  This winter I find myself struggling with my addictive nature.  It is harder in winter to deal with this particular addiction, as in the summer I have a different form of the addictive nature.  If I do not control this addictive tendency, I will stay up late, use office time, and not spend quality time with the family as much.  It is a terrible battle to fight, but I promised myself to not even engage in the activity this winter.  So what is the addiction, well it is chess.  This winter I promised myself not to play internet chess at all.  It is an interesting process to watch.  During down times, I am tempted to play a game or two.  But this will lead into playing more often, then reading about chess, studying chess, and just practicing chess.  I like chess, but every now and then I go on a chess binge.  It has happened three times over eight years.  I will spend a season, maybe four to six months totally immersing myself in chess.  Little things can cause this.  One time it was simply reading a book about chess players from New York which caused me to think about chess.  Just a few days ago, I was watching a movie about Bobby Fischer and I had to turn it off.  I was worried that it would start another binge.  This winter I am trying to play no internet chess at all.  I refocused my attention on rock climbing, and in the summer I am addicted to climbing mountains.  Now some would say, this is not a problem, but addiction is all the same.  People just have healthier addictions than others.  But the process of the addiction is the same from playing chess to taking drugs.  Almost all people have addictive tendencies.  It might be working too much, it might be watching T.V. to playing video games or making money or doing church work.  It is all unhealthy, because the process is unhealthy.  Remember:

1. The action might not be sinful but addiction of any form is sinful.  Think about the minister who is constantly working, everyone would praise him in the church, but his wife and children do not even see him.  He is in sin.  All he can think about his more church work.  This applies to the man who wants to raise up in the company, it is all he does, and he is rewarded but in reality he is addicted to success.

2. The road of addiction is the same no matter the desired outcome.  You might be addicted to talking on the phone while you judge the woman who is addicted to having an affairs.  The pathway is the same, but the results are just different.  You long to talk, you long to satisfy the need, you realize you have gone too far, and will stop because cannot and make that next call, just one more and than you will stop, which you never do.

3. If you are not addicted, then stop and see.  You will be shocked at that which might have more control over you than you realize.  Stop checking your facebook, or cellphone, or texting, or simply shopping.  Do you have a craving to do this, you might just call it habit, but be careful, Satan loves to call sin by a different name.

Hope this little post helps you see some of the addictive tendencies in your life.  You might be addicted to something and not even realize it.  But it is causing problems in your life, but since it is not one of the big sins, you just allow in the name of a habit.

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.