Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Day 242 - Addictions
Scripture focus: It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: …uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions… Galatians 5:19,21 The Message
The Greek word methe means to drink for the sake of intoxication. The religion of Bacchos centered around methe. Once the worshipers were completely tanked, they threw off all restraints and yielded to every temptation. Nothing was off limits. In fact, their goal was to breach every moral code. Often drugs were mixed with the wine. When Christianity came on the scene, Paul obviously had concerns about the cultural context of worship. The people were adjusted to thinking about worship as a frenzied act of feel good emotion. (Can I digress? What would a marketing team do with this situation today? Can you imagine them sitting around a table, thinking: how can we get people, used to drunken orgies and riotous acts of self-indulgence to come to believe in a faith that says things like, “In order to gain your life you must lose it.”? Or how about, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Lay down your life for a friend.”)
Funny, isn’t it, how much the times don’t change? We too live in a culture that touts the proposition that life is meant to be lived by reaching out and grabbing what suits you. Everywhere we turn we hear about our ability to achieve whatever dreams we dare to dream. We’re encouraged to empower ourselves. People tell us that the best thing we can do for those we love is to make ourselves happy. Pursue our dreams, and then we’ll be able to return to our families fulfilled and fit for love.
I actually agree with some of that stuff. I believe we do need to take care of ourselves and certainly pursue dreams. But here’s where I think we have to be careful: all that daring to dream and empowerment and fulfillment cannot come at the expense of others. It can’t leave us so stressed out or so over dosed on pleasure seeking that we overwhelm our pleasure centers – and end up addicted. (If this is confusing to you, we have a whole series of messages on our website that might help unravel your confusion. See www.northstarcommunity.com.)
It concerns me that it is so easy for us to slip into a life style of self-seeking, even as we pursue a life of faith. Paul is offering a warning to us that we must heed. Be careful where we step, and how we define the good life. We need to seek wisdom and discernment in all our pursuits – including our spiritual ones! I stumbled across a verse in my devotions this morning that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Obviously, they were fussing among themselves about how devoted followers should behave. Here’s his response: The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol; Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions – but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 The Message
Those folks who went to worship and got all liquored up were on a search for the same thing we are – a satisfying life. We live in a world where we can go out and find support for almost anything we want to believe. All I can say is - be careful. We need to be wise. We need to count ourselves lucky that God says that if we follow him, he’ll provide all that we need to know and do to live a fulfilling life!
Recommended reading: Job 31 and 32 in the morning; 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 in the evening
The Greek word methe means to drink for the sake of intoxication. The religion of Bacchos centered around methe. Once the worshipers were completely tanked, they threw off all restraints and yielded to every temptation. Nothing was off limits. In fact, their goal was to breach every moral code. Often drugs were mixed with the wine. When Christianity came on the scene, Paul obviously had concerns about the cultural context of worship. The people were adjusted to thinking about worship as a frenzied act of feel good emotion. (Can I digress? What would a marketing team do with this situation today? Can you imagine them sitting around a table, thinking: how can we get people, used to drunken orgies and riotous acts of self-indulgence to come to believe in a faith that says things like, “In order to gain your life you must lose it.”? Or how about, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Lay down your life for a friend.”)
Funny, isn’t it, how much the times don’t change? We too live in a culture that touts the proposition that life is meant to be lived by reaching out and grabbing what suits you. Everywhere we turn we hear about our ability to achieve whatever dreams we dare to dream. We’re encouraged to empower ourselves. People tell us that the best thing we can do for those we love is to make ourselves happy. Pursue our dreams, and then we’ll be able to return to our families fulfilled and fit for love.
I actually agree with some of that stuff. I believe we do need to take care of ourselves and certainly pursue dreams. But here’s where I think we have to be careful: all that daring to dream and empowerment and fulfillment cannot come at the expense of others. It can’t leave us so stressed out or so over dosed on pleasure seeking that we overwhelm our pleasure centers – and end up addicted. (If this is confusing to you, we have a whole series of messages on our website that might help unravel your confusion. See www.northstarcommunity.com.)
It concerns me that it is so easy for us to slip into a life style of self-seeking, even as we pursue a life of faith. Paul is offering a warning to us that we must heed. Be careful where we step, and how we define the good life. We need to seek wisdom and discernment in all our pursuits – including our spiritual ones! I stumbled across a verse in my devotions this morning that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Obviously, they were fussing among themselves about how devoted followers should behave. Here’s his response: The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol; Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions – but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 The Message
Those folks who went to worship and got all liquored up were on a search for the same thing we are – a satisfying life. We live in a world where we can go out and find support for almost anything we want to believe. All I can say is - be careful. We need to be wise. We need to count ourselves lucky that God says that if we follow him, he’ll provide all that we need to know and do to live a fulfilling life!
Recommended reading: Job 31 and 32 in the morning; 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 in the evening
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