The God-Shaped Vacuum -- Part 4

Dear TEAMS,

In the Fall of 2011, I was a keynote speaker at our church’s Ladies’ Retreat.  I spoke about the God-Shaped hole, and how that related to addiction, and brought in my personal experience with food addiction.  This and the following posts are this same talk with minimal modifications. 

A attended the retreat and said it’s what she’s heard her whole life.  May you find this information as familiar.  And may you decide every day to allow Father to fill you when you are empty, instead of with all the earthly stuff you rely on.  Because you all have addictions as well.

Click here to read the first part of this talk. 
Click here to read the second part of this talk.
Click here to read the third part of this talk. 

Love,

Then God really showed me a concept that brought me to my knees.  Before, I had thought an “addiction” was something people who were addicted to substances had, and it usually involved alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or porn.  God, in His gentle, kind way, showed me that addiction was actually when someone returns to the same sin over and over to fill the God-shaped hole they have.  And I had to admit, by that definition, I am an addict.  That’s a pretty humbling thing, to realize there are things that I turn to instead of God on a consistent basis. 

 

So let’s review here:

1. Every person on this earth was created with a place that only God can fill.  It is a large place, and its emptiness leads us to have feelings of discomfort, unsettledness, desperation, ancyness, discontentment, and unpeacefulness.
2. Sin is the act of putting something in our God-shaped hole that’s not God.  When it first goes in, it satisfies for a short period.  Anything can be a sin, depending on what our hearts are at that moment.
3. Addiction is simply a sin that we repeatedly turn to and put into our God shaped hole.  Usually it is something that we have found that provides the longest temporary comfort, but it wears off and we eventually realize that hole is still there.

Now, given those definitions, I want to share with you my addictions.  I actually turn to food (usually sweets, but it can be anything), escaping through daydreaming, and entertainment as my addictions. 

I’d like to just take my food addiction and examine it a little bit based on this new definition of addiction.  Remember, eating food is not sinful.  Eating as a pleasurable experience is talked a lot about in the Bible!  But remember that we have a new definition of addiction, and it is based on the state of my heart when I eat the food that is the problem.  

How many of you have ever watched an episode of The Biggest Loser?  For those of you who haven’t, it’s a show where they take people who are what is medically considered morbidly obese, which means the adipose tissue in their body (what we call body fat) is so excess that it is guaranteed to have an adverse and/or fatal effect on overall health.  They have them living at a spa where they spend hours per day working out and learning how to eat better.  Over the course of 8 months, there are weigh-ins and every week of the show the people who didn’t lose the largest percentage of body weight are eliminated, until it comes down to a couple people and one of them is voted the Biggest Loser.

Well, it’s quite the show, and there are all these success stories.  And you’d think that after someone had taken the time, effort, and cost to lose all that weight, that after the final weigh-in, they’d be done with being overweight forever.  So for the purposes of this talk, I actually got the stats of 46 people from the first 10 seasons of Biggest Loser contestants and found out some interesting facts.  Of the 46 people I got the stats for:

• 5 have lost more weight, if even just a pound
• 10 have gained 1-10 pounds back
• 17 have gained 11-25 pounds back
• 10 have gained 26-45 pounds back
• 3 have gained  47, 75, and 92 pounds back, one of whom has gained back all the weight lost

If you do the math, 30 of the 46 people listed here had gained back 11-92 pounds from the time they went on the show, as of December 2010.  And these stats reflect only the people who were willing to talk to the Today show to give their stats.  It doesn’t count one other person from season 3 who regained 200 of the 300 pounds lost for that show.  So it’s safe to assume that there may actually be others not reflected here.

Well, obviously, there is something more at work here than just “people eating too much.”  What’s at work here is where these people’s hearts are, and what they are putting into their God shaped hole. 

But here’s the kicker.  Please note that I’m not overweight.  In fact, on some medical charts, I am within the desired range of weight for my height, build, age, and muscle tone.  But I am telling you that on a base level, there is nothing different between me and anyone on this chart, because we share the same sickness:  turning to food when we should be turning to God to take care of the ache in our souls.  God does not judge me by my appearance, he judges me by what’s going on “in here” at every moment.  As I have been sharing this evening, the Holy Spirit may have already brought to mind things that are sin and addiction for you.  Remember how I love you and consider you my sisters.  I am bringing you a message of hope today, and of freedom from discontentment, restlessness and unpeaceful living.

What are some practical things we can do when we realize we are caught in this web?

1. Realize that the only person judging you about this is you.  God neither condemns nor judges you right now that you do this. 
2. Understand that God might deliver you immediately from this addiction, but more likely He will have you do the hard work necessary to undo the addiction, and it will take time.

When the urge to sin strikes:

1. Identify the feeling you are having.  Are you lonely?  Sad?  Angry?  Frustrated?  Disappointed?  Verbally speak out, “I am _____________________ right now, God!  I feel this way because __________________________________________.”
2. Search the Scriptures to discover what He has already said to you to comfort you.  No cheating--this needs to be work you do with a concordance and Bible memorization!
3. Pray.  Use your prayer language if you wish.  Just tell Him everything!
4. Listen to what He responds.  Wait for it.
5. If you find yourself daily turning to this sin, just as with Alcoholics Anonymous and other addiction groups, confess your sins to others for accountability.  It can be a mentor, a friend, or other Christian.
6. If your sin is affecting the quality of your life or the lives of your inner circle of friends and family, consider counseling or other programs.
7. If your sin is illegal, seek professional help.
8. If the sin is something you can live without, consider a fast WITH COUNSELING to teach you how to have that thing in your life and have it not have power over you.

Here’s the good news about me walking in this concept:  I am happier and healthier (physically, spiritually, and emotionally) than I’ve ever been.  I am able to cope with difficult circumstances better than I ever have.  I have lots more friends, and  I have found a greater joy in my blessings and greater capacity to forgive and offer others grace.   

And as my sisters, I would like to tell you something.  This is not the talk that I would generally prepare for a Ladies’ Retreat.  However, it is the talk that I feel our Father would like you to hear.  Not because He wants to condemn you—no way!  Because you have accepted what Jesus did for you and want to live your life for God, God sees that.  So He knows you are willing to go places others who don’t love Him yet are not!  He wants to take you into greener pastures, places of deeper health emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and places of greater contentment that others who are of the world simply cannot go.  Understanding and embracing the concepts I’ve talked about will take you deeper than you ever dreamed was possible in your daily life.  It will open you up to deeper understanding of Scriptural concepts that will continue to bring you even greater life—abundant life.  As your sister, I want to encourage you to let God show you what you are putting into your God-shaped hole day-to-day, hour-by-hour, and moment-by-moment.  Doing this will allow you to live in greater intimacy with God every day.

Isaiah 55

 ¹WAIT and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].

    ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].

    ³Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.  (Amplified)

 

To this end, I have prepared a worksheet.