Self-Addiction

Are you addicted to yourself?

Donald Miller describes this affliction in his book, “Blue Like Jazz.” He writes, “No drug is so powerful as the drug of self. No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are the characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.”

The most difficult lie to contend with, Miller says, is this: “Life is a story about me.”

But life can conspire to give us that belief. When a baby is born, parents spend his first few years convincing him he is the center of his world. If he cries, warm milk, dry diapers and soft cuddles all seem to appear as if by magic! He is certain to think, “Life is about ME!”

Finally that child goes to school and meets 19 other “Centers of the World.” Persuaded that having his way is a God-given right, he will demand it or throw a tantrum.

Like Jim Carrey’s character Truman Burbank in the movie “The Truman Show,” life is movie all about ME. It seems to be true because, everywhere you go, you are the only actor in every scene. And the theme of this movie is your comfort and your glory.

Other people seem to be just second-rate actors stealing our scenes. And when the other “actors” don’t do what we want, our natural response is to lash back at them in anger. We are confident we are right and they are wrong. Don’t they know this life is about me?

Our minds are like radios that pick up only one station, the one that plays me: WMEE, all me, all the time. We may not put it in those words but that is the way we live.

Well hold on just a minute! Why can’t people just get along? Why, indeed?

Because family feuds, civil wars, hateful speech, murderous rampages and polarized politics all come from self-addiction. Why do some people become cranky and irritable as they age? Aging doesn’t have to make you cranky. No, it’s more likely a result of self-addiction. They’re not getting what they want. And as we age we become more of what we were all along.

The Bible identifies the problem in the New Testament book of James: “Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice…. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

Thankfully the prescription follows the diagnosis: “Submit yourselves, then, to God.” The Bible says we need to humble ourselves, turn from our self-centered ways and accept God’s solution to the human condition he calls “sin.”

God’s solution is simple. The Bible says it begins by accepting forgiveness for our self-addiction through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He died for our sin. But he rose again to give us a new joy-filled life. That’s the message of Easter.

Through Christ, God cleanses our conscience and gives us a new mind, a new way of thinking. Instead of addicted to self we become dedicated to serving God and others. J-O-Y comes from putting Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last.

God first and not self. That’s the way Jesus lived and it’s the secret to making life work. Read it for yourself in the New Testament of the Bible. Then remember that the Bible’s message isn’t just for our information but for our transformation!

Sadly some refuse to accept the cure. They know best. And they go on, like human wrecking balls, destroying lives, families, schools and even countries. Self-addicted.

Listen to the Bible; it’s good for your soul!