“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you…” (Jeremiah 1:5)

Listen, God is on you side. Not only does God desire for you to make heaven your home but He desires that you live a fulfilling earthly life - “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

So many times we “shoot ourselves in the foot”, things that keep us from fulfilling our purpose, things that hinder our “race of faith” things the enemy tries to use to sabotage us from finishing well.  The enemy uses our insecurities as we looked at last week, the enemy also uses bad habits that form into “addictions.”  We not only need freedom from insecurities but we also need freedom from “addictions.”

Billy Graham writes, “In Christ alone there is deliverance from a man’s tortured thoughts and freedom from the sordid habits which are destroying so many people.  Anything that is against a person’s welfare, God is against.”

The bible warns “do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits.”

(1 Cor. 15: 33).  With any addiction or bad habit, admitting that there is a problem is the first step on the road to recovery.

Proverbs 14:12 is a perfect description of addiction - “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  We immediately think of alcohol and drugs when we hear the term addiction but people can become addicted to almost anything: food, gambling, shopping, work, cigarettes, pornography, the internet, video games, smart phones, texting, pain meds and the list goes on and on.

One person described her addiction this way: “It was the best thing until it became the worst thing.” That could almost be a mantra for any addiction. Whether it’s alcohol or something else, it’s always the best thing until it becomes the worst thing. There is a way that seems right to you – it’s the best thing, the very best thing, the only thing, nothing matters to me more than this – but in the end it leads to death.

You and I were meant to worship God and God alone, addiction is that something else that takes His rightful place in your life.  The word addiction is from the Latin word addictus, which means “to surrender to the gods.” And so your habit becomes your worship - unchecked it will ultimately destroy you.  You can choose to instead “…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!” (cf. 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6)

Pastor Rodney