Tonight we started a new series called mousetrap. Over the next four weeks we are going to explore different traps that stop us from being able to pursue God and the destiny he has for us. The first of the mousetraps is addictions. An addiction is compulsive need for and use of a habit forming substance charactrized by tolerance and by well defined physicolgical symptoms upon withdrawal. There are many bad things we can get addicted to: cutting, porn, sex outside of marriage, texting, facebook, video games, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, popularity, etc...
When thinking about addiction I tend to think of fly paper traps. I was always grossed otu by them, but they appealed to the flys. Fly paper is a strip of paper that has some phermones to draw the flys to it, then it has a long lasting sticky substance on it so that when a fly touches it, it becomes stuck, then a poison so that the fly will eat it and die. Addictions act the same way. at frist the thing seems unattractive. But then we get closer and we become strangely drawn to it (through friends, looks fun, family, famous people, etc...). When we get too close and actually experience that thing we suddenly become struck and no matter how hard we struggle, on our own we can't escape. Finally our relationship with God, with others, and our destiny are swallowed up by this thing instead until we are utterly spiritual and emotionally dead because of it. The big question becomes how do we find freedom when we are trapped so that we can pursue God and our destiny again. Titus 3:3-7 tells us that it starts with turning to God for forgiveness and renewal by the Holy Spirit. So to break through an addiction we need to Look Up (to God for help and forgiveness), Look Over (to others to encourage us and become accountable to), and Run (stay away from people and places that encourage us to go back to that addiction).
I give tonight: A
Favorite Moment: The many who walked into the fly paper
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