Matthew 6:24
In sports, there’s nothing more exciting than a big comeback. One of my favorite memories from playing sports was from a High School football game. In the first half, our team was down by 21 points. By the end of the fourth quarter, though, we had scored a last minute touchdown to complete the comeback and beat a rival school. There was a moment in the middle of the game where all the bad things that had happened to cause us to be losing stopped happening and things started going better for us. We started playing harder and smarter. We broke the cycle of self destruction that was causing us to lose the game.
Many of us need a comeback. We’ve allowed things to control us and cause us to self destruct. It usually goes a little something like this:
- Your addiction becomes a part of your identity.
- When you try to quit but fail, you feel increasingly hopeless.
- Any threat to your addiction becomes a threat to you.
- You lose friends, money, health, family—further wounding your struggling self esteem.
- You ease the pain by going back again and again.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Whether it’s drinking, smoking, popping pills, looking at pornography, binge eating, or any number of other harmful habits and addictions, most of us have been caught in this cycle. In fact, some of us are probably facing several different addictions at varying stages. The longer you allow yourself to continue on this path, the more destruction you’ll create for yourself and those that love you. It’s time to identify where you are and take the steps you need to take to break free.
In the Bible, Jesus says that you can’t serve two masters. As long as we are caught in this cycle of self destruction and allow our addictions to master us, we can’t serve God the way He wants us to. God offers help for those who want to break free. You have to take the first step.
// TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS //
Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:
- What was the best part of your day?
- What was the toughest part of your day?
- Where did you mess up today?
- Where did you see God today?
Reflect: Discuss or journal as you answer the questions: Do you find yourself making the same mistakes, committing the same sins, and struggling with the same bad habits over and over again? Why do you think it’s so hard to break away from these self destructive activities?
Pray: Take a few minutes today with God as you begin to pray to ask Him to help you overcome anything that is mastering you or is in the beginning stages of mastering you. Also, take time to pray for those you know are struggling through their own battles with addiction.
READ THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT:
Today’s Reading: Mark 2]]>
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