Noise - Week 5
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Addiction is experienced by everyone. It’s a heavy topic, and week 5 of our Noise series was led by Lead Pastor Aeric Wallace, who dove into the topic with grace and truth.
While you may not be in an active addiction, you probably know someone who is and you probably know how easy it can be to slip back into an addiction at any time.
While physical addictions are easy to point a finger at, behavioral addictions are extremely harmful and more difficult to pinpoint. These types of addictions can turn into attractions, which can fuel our pride and kickstart dangerous coping mechanisms.
Addictions are also “shortcuts” to other experiences. We all start in a place where our behaviors are meant to encourage enjoyment (which isn’t inherently bad). You should enjoy life, in fact, and take pleasure in what you do. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 says, “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil — this is God’s gift to man.”
The “using” is not inherently a bad thing, but the use without boundaries is.
Even though God has gifted us things in life to enjoy (including friends, family, and the fruits of our labor), the Bible gives guidelines on how to use alcohol, tobacco, sex, food, and more, and these boundaries are essential to enjoyment without addition.
The moment we abuse our boundaries and responsibilities is the moment we lose the ability to enjoy them. Not all who use are addicts, but all addicts use. The “using” is not inherently a bad thing, but the use without boundaries is.
Enjoyment quickly becomes addiction in 3 steps:
Without accountability, enjoyment becomes obsession: We can refer to this as Possession Obsession, where we move from living free to living in bondage, and we believe questions about our actions are questions about our character.
With obsession, we move into dependence: At this stage we move from want to need. While not all dependence is bad, those that try to hurt you are. These have control over the functioning of your life.
We either give up our dependence, or we end up in addiction: No addiction will solve unhappiness, fear, anger, loneliness, or any other struggle.
Even if we land in active (or inactive) addiction, we can find a way out. 1 Corinthians 10:13 provides hope, saying, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Catch up with the rest of the series here!
