These Are My Obsessions

Well it’s safe to say I never had a slight bit of rest last night, my brain decided to write this post just as I got into bed, opening my eyes every minute to write down something the Holy Spirit stirred within my soul. I would just like to apologise in advance for the length of this blog post, but I really feel that all of you should take a minute to read it!

I decided to write something with regards to what I have been praying about over the last couple of months, although I didn’t know what I was praying for, I had, sort of a revelation and with this I unknowingly freed myself from the clink of...wait for it... my obsessions.

The word obsession has such a negative connotation, so most of us will never admit to having any form of obsession, but I want you to take a step back today... look at your life and pin point the things you have become so absorbed with that it’s become part of your regular routine.

There are a couple of obsessions people become completely infatuated with; these are a couple to name a few:

Obsession #1: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

I think this obsession is driven by jealousy. You become fixated on the fact that if you are not part of an experience then you have lost a bit of life you will never regain again. And when people talk about what they have experienced together and you weren’t a part of it, it may feel like a little knife has been twisted in your heart. You want to experience everything to the fullest full. I am or at least used to be the person who partied till the sun rose, just to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything amazing. But that’s where I draw the line, others become so fanatical about having ‘a good time’ that they start seeking fulfilment in the things they shouldn’t be doing or going to places they shouldn’t be going to just to say ‘I had the best time ever!’

Why do we do this? To show others that we have the best life, possibly even better than theirs or to make sure you never feel left out, there are so many reasons! I use to have a serious case of FOMO but now I have found a place that will never make me feel like I’ve been left out, I found a home where I am always welcome and I tend not to miss out now but for all the right reasons.

Obsession #2: Social Media/iPhone

Okay, things just got real, this has been something I’ve been praying about endlessly, and even tried to fast numerous times over, without any luck might I add. I know most of you might think I’m rather weird right now but I tend to write statuses in my head all the time, I check Instagram, Facebook and Twitter simultaneously on regular intervals and don’t understand why some of my posts only get 1 like? I mean... come on; I’m not that boring am I, haha! Okay, I’m pushing the envelope there, but being on social media, or living in the cyber world may be preventing us from growing in the real world. Stopping us from looking up from our phones and experiencing life first hand without the need of having to document everything we do.

Obsession #3: Success/Work

This obsession is linked to greed, and what a terrible thing that is. Driven to succeed is awesome and everyone should be driven but it becomes an obsession when you sacrifice your happiness as well as the happiness of others just to get ahead! You are never satisfied with what you have so you fill your mind with the desire to want more and more and more until your mindset becomes so cluttered that there isn't any room for God's blessings! God will bless you with so much goodness, grace and peace that you won't have room enough to store it. You can't put a price on happiness! Work hard at everything you do but don't let your work control your everything!

Obsession#4: Love and Companionship

This is an obsession that I have steered clear from. I have been so blessed to have control over this in my life but unfortunately most girls struggle with this. They become so focused on having someone or being with someone that it becomes their only goal, the only reason why they wake up in the morning! One shouldn't make another person’s life your life, especially when that person bares no interest in you. Infatuation drives obsession! Instead of praying for a particular person to want you pray to be set free from your 'obsession' because God will bless you with someone better. His plans for you are far greater than you can ever imagine!

Okay let's get to the bottom of this; obsession is a direct result of attention! We do things to seek attention, we constantly want things that we don't have, we are never satisfied, and we are so obsessed with generating our own happiness that we tend to forget that happiness is generated naturally.

People tend to characterize Christianity as a crazed obsession but God has an answer for this as he always does. Yesterday I listened to a podcast by PS Judah Smith he spoke about the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus. (podcast here)

John 4: 7-26

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

.....  39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

Ps Judah Smith spoke from the vantage point of having grace like Jesus does but I want to approach this from the vantage point of the Samaritan woman! She had an obsession with men, an obsession to be wanted and desired! But what I gathered from this was the following: We live in flesh so we are covered by layers of sin and fear, an obsession of life itself! Being consumed with the ways of the flesh leaves you with an unquenchable thirst and eventually the well runs dry! Your happiness runs dry until you become completely suffocated with a desire that never gets fulfilled! But Jesus said to this woman “...but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst!” When you become consumed with the Spirit it will set you free, free from your endless desires. (Read Romans 8: 1-10)

Jesus offers you a happiness that needs no effort, a happiness that hugs your heart when everything else wants to rip it open! He makes you content with everything because His good is good enough! Be fixated on eternity and not on your eternal desires! If you are going to crave something crave Canaan because the land of milk and honey is far sweeter than anything this world can offer! God will set you free; all you need to do is ask!