ADDICTIONS
SUCCESS AND APPROVAL ADDICTION - AM I THERE YET?
By Synthia Esther
Does your search for Eden and its all consuming utopia experience enable you to shirk responsibility and proceed with a line of coke, a hit of crack, a gallon of Jack Daniels, or the a bidding lust of a new lover, prostitute, or pornography indulgence? Forever lonely, forever in need, forever dependent, forever in bondage, your blissful hedonistic pleasure is dependent upon your addiction fix. The lure of its pleasure bids the day long past, as you partake of your choice of all-consuming pleasure. While in your high, time is but a fathom of your imagination. Blissful fantasy is quenched as desire meets its longings. Your search for Eden indulging in your favorite addiction ritual in all of its splendor doesn't disappoint you. On the contrary, it is more than you could ever imagine or dream, when left to suffer its absence.
You thought people who fell into the pit of despair unable to defeat their addictions all consuming, obsessive power and influence were weak. You voiced disdain in stories of those who caved once again to their addiction passion of pleasure. You laughed at their shallow existence and merger attempts to abstain from the clutches of their feeble lack of will power. Your voice is loud as you utter your self-righteous decrees, "That could never happen to me!" You laugh at such a thought, as you zip your pants, button your shirt, comb your hair and brush your teeth. You kiss the wife and kids good-bye as you proceed to work, always on time, with a positive smile on your face.
Last year, your job promotion paid for a new Mercedes, a vacation home and your wife's new set of 36-D breast. You show off her breast enhancement at company parties, charity and church functions. You are proud of your accomplishments, your conservative religious values and the fact you are consulted by the pastor himself in regards to building and fund raising projects. You play golf with the governor and even let him win, just to gain favor and show you're a real man. A recipient of many trophies and awards you are looked up to within your community and the state in which you live.
Yet each day you feel insecure, empty and unworthy of love. You have spent your entire life addicted to winning approval and favor in the eyes of those around you, yet you neglect the Lord who blesses the righteous surrounding them with favor (Psalm 5:12). As a child you were left neglected by your mother and rejected by your father, spending the rest of your life striving to measure up. Deemed a failure in your own eyes, you have approached life with an inappropriate addiction to succeed. You have continued to search from without, when the answer to your self worth and identity problems lie within. Your continual search for approval, success and favor leaves you with the constant ever looming question "Am I there yet?"
Remember these two things the next time you are tempted by your heart and mind towards the addictive patterns of approval and accomplishment:
LIFE WITHOUT GOD'S FAVOR
Ezekiel 5:11, Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
FAVOR WITH GOD
2nd Corinthians 6:2, For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
BUILDING YOUR HOUSE ON SOLID GROUND
The builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything (Hebrews 3:3-4). By seeking God's favor, he will lead and guide you in building your house on solid ground. Instead of shame, God's people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed (Isaiah 61:8-9).
By giving your heart and life to Jesus you will win favor, blessings and a good name in the sight of God and man (Proverbs 3:4).
ADDITIONAL "FAVOR" SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Genesis 6:8, Exodus 34:9, Leviticus 26:9, Job 11:19, Job 33:26, Job 34:19, Psalm 69:13, Luke 2:14, Luke 2:52, Luke 4:19
SIN AND TEMPTATION
1st John 2:15-17, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. (17) The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
SALVATIONAL MESSAGE AND PLAN
by Synthia Esther
