How Worldview Affects Addiction Part 1
Our core beliefs are the foundation upon which we are building our lives. Until your core beliefs change, your actions will not change. Until your actions change, your life will not change.
There will always be another persuasive person to change the way you think, to whisper seductive lies into your ears. To compel you to follow them. To promise the world and deliver nothing but fleeting pleasures that disappear like mist into the wind. There are literally hundreds of belief systems we can pick and choose from. Some are far more compelling than others. Sometimes we fail to realize how much our belief systems and worldviews influence our thought process. Here’s the truth, if we believe something is ultimate, we will pursue it. Our thoughts influence our actions. Repeated actions eventually turn into habits. Our habits feed our belief systems, thus fueling the feedback loop.
The reality is that our core beliefs are the foundation upon which we are building our lives. Until your core beliefs change, your actions will not change. Until your actions change, your life will not change.
How do you think we can break this cycle?
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” —1 John 4:1 ESV
“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” —Matthew 24:11 ESV
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold”- 2 Timothy 4:3
Discussion Questions
What are your core beliefs? Where have you built your foundation?
When giving ourselves physical pleasure and acquiring material possessions doesn’t give our lives lasting meaning or purpose, where are we supposed to turn? How can we turn to God when these things are suffocating and inescapable?
When the things we turn to create more problems than they deliver us from, what should we do?
When our will to change and our power to change aren’t enough, how do we break free?
When we realize there aren’t magic fixes, and the quick fixes we’ve been using create more problems than they solve, what then? Is the solution we are using a complete solution, or is it a bandaid on a broken bone? How far will we really get in life if we allow ourselves to remain crippled?
Does it violate some greater universal law if our actions to please ourselves harm others?