Addiction To Self – The Problem

David Groenenboom. Trowel & Sword. Jan/Feb. 1999

Preamble: In his opening statement Davis names “Addiction to Self” as the “…biggest threat to the western Church at the end of the 20th century.” He also writes that it has been a problem since Adam. It would therefore be safe to say that it is just as much a problem today as it was when he wrote the article 27 years ago, and will be until Christ comes again. So what hope do we have? As Dave himself points out – only one.

Addiction To Self – The Problem

Addiction to self is the biggest threat to the western Church at the end of the 20th century. Of course, there are lots of other threats manifesting in various doctrinal and pastoral forms, but addiction to self could well be the most dangerous and the most insidious.

What is addiction to self? It is living for your own happiness, seeking life the way you want it, looking for comfort any way you can get it – generally the quicker it comes, the better. Addiction to self has been a problem since Eden. Self-glory was the carrot the serpent used to lure our first parents into rebellion. They sought self-exaltation and equality with the Creator. They saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. So headlong they fell into sin, and self-addiction has been with us ever since.

While the virus of self-addiction is present in every human being, today’s cultural climate has presented an environment for the virus to mutate into an ugly life threatening disease. Australians in 1999 see as their birthright the very things self-addiction feeds on. People expect to have happiness when, where, however and with whom they fancy, and they expect it to be pretty well immediate.

The credo of 1999 Australia is “Me first, and now!” The temples of self addiction are the ritzy shopping plazas, CBDs, and credit agencies. Its high priests are the beautiful success stories of the business world. The salvation they offer is the bliss of contentment. These are the temples, the priests, and the salvation – but where is the sacrifice? Well, that’s the challenge: the sacrifice self-addiction requires is Christian commitment, personal integrity and Kingdom compassion. Self-addiction demands that we sell our soul. The difference in 1999 is that all this is seen as socially acceptable.

Which is precisely why it’s such a danger for the church: because self-worship is socially acceptable we may just miss the presence of the disease in our midst. If we do, this virulent parasite may suck our lifeblood before we realise what’s going on. Consider the following:

Evening service attendance. I would like a dollar for every time someone has said to me (or to an elder), “I don’t need to attend church twice on Sunday.” I find myself asking, “Your need? Who said anything about your need?” Worship is what we bring to the Lord of life! Worship is the product of our desire to honour the Lord who has given us grace! Its focus is His worth, not our need. But today’s church is suffering from a cultural osmosis where the values of society have started to determine what we do in worship. So the focus of worship shifts from what God deserves to what we want. No wonder people are staying home or going somewhere else! How long will it be before people feel they don’t need to go at al? That a better “happiness hit” can be had in the secular temples? That it is mediated by much more attractive priests than pretty well any preacher? Consequence? Christian commitment is sacrificed on the altar of self worship.

Or consider marriage. How many times has one partner walked out on another because they wanted “space”, “personal freedom”, or “more happiness”? When personal happiness is at life’s centre, another person cannot be there as well. Not even a husband or wife. “Until death do us part” has, in 1999, become “as long as you make me happy.” Some 43% of Australian marriages on the scrap heap are a lamentable testimony to just how entrenched self-worship has become.

Or consider church commitment. It used to be that people cared about church teaching and confessional responsibility. Many still do. But some today are simply content to stay with a church as long as it meets their needs. Should things get a bit crusty and the congregation hit the rough side of the road, people feel justified bailing out and finding somewhere better. At least there, they’ll be happy and things will be peaceful (or so they think). And so the Christian integrity which gets forged in the crucible of shared pain and mutual reconciliation never sees the light of day. Consequence? A weaker church and Christians with stunted growth.

True, these are oversimplified generalisations but they hold a fair measure of truth. Self-addiction eats away at life as worship, it sucks commitment from marriage, it undermines the body of Christ. If self-addiction is the virus, then only Christ’s grace can be both the cure and continuing immunisation. More on that next issue.

David Groenenboom

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