A Life Worth Living

I've been thinking about obsessions, compulsions, and addictions. What drives them? 

A number of things have been hitting me. 

First of all, it's not enough to keep telling me that I shouldn't. That I can't. That I have to get it out of my life. There are a number of things that are going to have to take place first before I’m going to be able to do that. 

It's not enough to just keep telling me, “Hey, that's wrong. You shouldn't do it.” 

There's a reason why I'm doing it. There's something in me that it serves. 

I don't know if it's loneliness, feeling like I don’t fit in, shame, things from my past, or a sexual violation that was done to me... There's something. I need to have someone to talk through these things with me. They don't have to be a skilled professional, just someone who will let me think out loud. And it’s not just sexual sin but with all obsessions, we have to ask, “What is this fulfilling in me?” That’s huge. 

At some point, I have to be able to say, “Wait, what is worth living for?” This is why we talk about our identity in Christ so much - because it frees me up in who I am to give my life away; to be generous, to play, to be free. To enjoy this life, instead of just surviving and giving myself token permission to fail in my obsessions and compulsions. 

Knowing my identity in Christ frees me and gives me a life worth living. 

A life where I can say, “That's not me anymore. I don't have time for that.”

The reality is I need to have people in my life who know me, who I can call. And I know what happens... after a while, you think, “You know, that was good once, but I don't want to keep being that person.” And your friends will tell you, “Please, keep being that person. I know sometimes you might act out because you're bored, but just call.” The ability to call someone and say, “Hey, I'm struggling with this right now, this is what I want to be doing… I haven't done it, but I wanted to tell you I was considering it.” You know what it does? Not the first time, not the second time, not the seventh time, but it starts to break the power of that hidden behavior. The ability and the choice for me to call you, and tell you what I’m struggling with, is a powerful gift. One that starts to break the strength of that behavior. 

So, instead of just saying, “No, you can't or no, you shouldn't,” to obsessive things, compulsions, and addictions, I get to start figuring out where they come from with a trusted friend. 

I get to actually have a life worth living, by believing who I am in Christ. 

I get to live a life full of freedom, generosity, playfulness… 

And then I get to tell others. And it starts to break that power. All of these things together begin to create a new way of seeing. 

This is the life for us.

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