Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 - Idol vs. Addiction

Even though God struck my games idol down and even convicted me further last week, I have slipped back into that idol. This caused me to question whether there was something deeper yet in this area in me. I considered the possibility that I may be addicted to playing this board game online. Through a great conversation in Bible Study, God showed me an important distinction between idols and addiction.

I consider my gaming habits an idol because even when my relationship with God is healthy and my time management is well-balanced, I so easily slip into playing games for more extended periods of time. God and time with Him get put on the back burner, so the time playing games ends up taking up time with God, too. My definition of an idol is anything that comes before or takes the place of God in our lives. An addiction is different.

An addiction is something that we need and can't do without. When we aren't doing it, we desire and long to be doing it. My situation isn't like that; a week ago, I was blessed with the privilege of hanging out with a few guys from my other Bible Study. I loved it and was so thankful that I had something to do - I was glad to get away from the games. In addition, this showed me my problem of lack of replacement.

To get rid of an idol, you must both prevent yourself from doing it and replace that activity with another, one you can worship God through (I want to note that you can worship God through games and almost anything, but I have taken it to a level of idol rather than worshiping God through it). I did the prevention but still struggle to find a replacement activity that sticks. I am praying for that and also for brokenness that I may fall more in love with God; it saddens me that my love for Him is weak to the point where I would go so far as to put God in the trunk rather than the driver's seat.

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