Commitment or Addiction?

Commitment or Addiction?

“Commit thy works unto the LORD, And thy thoughts shall be established.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:3‬

It’s crazy to think that I was committed to using chewing tobacco for forty years. 

Noticed how I didn’t say addicted. Nobody likes to admit that they are addicted to something, unless it’s jokingly. 

Someone will say “wow you have a lot of coffee mugs” and in response I say jokingly, “yeah, I’m addicted to them”. 

Of course I was addicted to chewing tobacco. It contained nicotine, a stimulant, and I thrived off it. It was habit forming in so many ways. Not only was it a behavioral stimulant, it curved my appetite. 

I used it first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. I used chewing tobacco all day long. If I was hungry, I used chewing tobacco. If I was anxious, I used chewing tobacco.  After a stressful event, I used chewing tobacco. To prepare for something stressful, chewing tobacco. 

There is no doubt about it, I was addicted to tobacco.  I rarely remember a time where I wasn’t chewing tobacco. I remember I didn’t think I could be without it. It was a horrible addiction. 

Addictions are defined as;

a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence : the state of being addicted. 

Now let’s switch gears. Think about being committed to something. Completely different, but somehow similar, right?

Being committed to something new is doing something you aren’t currently doing, that you have to change behavior to do and to do it repeatedly and consistently over a pre-determined amount of time to see a change. 

Imagine putting your belt on a different way for 30 days. No soda for 30 days. Get on the treadmill for 30 days. Commit to working out. Commit to bicycling to work. Think about a commitment, set a time period and do it. 

Much harder than an addiction in my opinion. Although addictions start in much the same way. 

Addictions are hard to quit and commitments are hard to keep going. 

They have one thing in common, the start. You just have to start something. Things that become an addiction have qualities that make them addictive, and our genetics contribute to that. 

People are proud when they are committed to something, ashamed when it’s an addiction. 

I struggled with quitting alcohol and tobacco. And that’s because I didn’t look at it as starting something new in place of quitting something addictive. 

Starting a life without the addiction meant replacing those things with what God could be in my life. 

Being committed to God takes obedience, thought, heart, mind and consistency, to name a few. 

There are temporary withdrawal symptoms associated with removing a substance from long term use. And it can be difficult. And there are results if you remove a relationship from long term use. 

A relationship with God can be permanent. His love for us is everlasting. Not temporary. But it takes commitment. He is and will always be committed to us. 

I learned that the sooner I developed a relationship with God, I replaced those temporary difficulties with permanent and lasting comforts. It took work. It was painful in the beginning to stop an addiction, literally. 

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:16‬

But for me, it had to start immediately. There is no slow process to removing something bad in your life and replacing it with something so Holy and righteous. 

It also took commitment. I knew once I started my relationship with God, I couldn’t let up. I couldn’t cut corners. I would struggle at times, but I could not quit. It would be one of the greatest changes in my life with some of the biggest rewards, but it would also be hard. There would be good days and bad days. I would fail and I would rise. 

I crave my relationship with God every single day, even throughout the day. There are times I wake up in the middle of the night wanting to pray. At times I’m in my Bible reading, reflecting God’s blessings and desiring His will. My relationship with God is something I can’t live without. 

There is nothing bad that will ever come from your relationship with God. Nothing. 

Do you have a relationship with God?

“O love the LORD, all ye his saints: For the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭31:23‬

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37‬