Are You An Addict?

Sex. Pornography. Gambling. Drugs. Alcohol. Work. Internet. Computer Games. What do they have in common? These are things or activities that get us hooked and, in the process, make us addicts. Each of us may be addicted to any or all of these. Addiction to the first five, in my opinion, is outright sinful, except maybe for the first one which is not against morality if one is doing it with his or her lawful spouse. As to the last three, I can consider Internet addiction as outright sinful if it is used in surfing pornography. But then, addiction to it, as well as to the rest, creates a dent  in our relationship with God and the people around us – family, friends, neighbors, and officemates.

We get addicted to anything precisely because it gives us a different high sexually, psychologically, or emotionally. Being an addict is not bad if the forms of addiction that we’re into do not cause the decay of our souls or our relationships with the people we love. If we are addicted to doing good things, there's no problem with it. But once the addiction results in our separation from God or our loved ones, we better think twice.

I have heard of various testimonies of people who have, at one time or another, become addicted to worldly vices or activities that they could not get out of it. Until slowly, everything around them started to fall apart. That’s when God came to the rescue. The good thing about these people, when God tried to reach out His hand, they grabbed his arms, hence they were plucked out of the dark and brought back to light.

Indeed, God gives us the free will to do whatever we want to do with our lives. But, out of God’s great love for us, He does not totally abandon us even if we have chosen the other side. He tries to win us back by bothering our conscience whenever He sees that we are already sinking in the quicksand of soul's destruction. It is our response to God’s help that determines our perpetual happiness or eternal doom.

Addiction is never a hopeless case. When all our loved ones may have given up on us, God will always be there for us to help us get out of the dark. Listening to the voice within us is the first step towards getting back to the right path. Until we realize and admit that we are an addict, that's the only time that we can regain God's friendship.

Personally, I thank God for not giving up on me and always bothering my conscience every time I have become deeply immersed to ephemeral gratifications that Satan offers me. I have always believed that it is not man’s nature to be bad because He comes from God. Man becomes wicked because he chooses to be one. Still, no matter how man has become evil, God, out of His great love for all of us, will always try to bring us back to the right path.

Choosing the right path may sound so easy but, in reality, it is one of the most difficult things to do especially when we have become so enslaved to the pleasures of our addictions. To others, choosing the right path sounds so corny and alienating. But when the time comes that we start to feel the emptiness within us despite the happiness that we get from those things we consider part of our lives as human beings, grab that opportunity to surrender to God our addictions and let Him fill the void within us. Getting addicted to God's love is the best alternative.