II Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is IN Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new.
Low self esteem.........
Low self worth..........
"I'm a terrible person."
All part of the voices and the view that runs through the mind of someone who is trapped in addiction.
A whole belief system forms in the mind of an addict. The foundation for this view of self began when we were little children.
As you were growing up, if you did something that was wonderful. Maybe you set the table for your mother, or you cleaned up your room without asking. You were deemed a "Good little boy or girl" by your parents.
But let you do something wrong, like breaking one of your mother's good china plates. Or maybe you broke a window with a baseball, then you were labeled a "Bad boy or girl". Over the years, without really thinking about it, we develop this mindset that we ARE what we have done.
Now fast forward through the years and you are now an addict. Given enough time, the addiction slowly starts to eat away at your behavior. You lie..........to the people who love you. You steal.....from the people that love you. You manipulate........the people that love you. Why? Because you're chasing that feeling you think you so desperately need. The feeling takes precedent over everything and everyone. So as the behavior goes from bad to worse, you're carrying around this view that "Who you are as a person is defined by what you've done plus other peoples opinion about you. That is a burden no person was ever created to carry.
Under these false belief's, we operate and live out our lives.
False Belief # 1
I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.
Trapped in addiction, the individual can never meet any standards, no matter how hard they try. This leaves you with a view that you are not worth much to anyone.
False Belief #2
I must have the approval of certain other's in order to feel good about myself.
Since we see no good in ourselves, we look to others to affirm or approve us. That is why most addicts quickly get themselves into a relationship. The other person becomes their 2nd drug of choice. They look to that person to fulfill their emotional needs. Trouble is that the addict does not know how to have a healthy relationship, so they usually end up attracting someone who is actually sicker than them.
False Belief #3
Those who fail are unworthy of love and must be punished.
Here again, we enter into a cycle. Basing our self worth on our performance (or behavior) we view ourselves as having no worth to ourselves or anyone else. Why would anyone want to love us....we fail continually. Such a view of self fills the individual with a deep, deep sense of guilt and shame. These emotions are too hard to face, so the answer is to run to the drug of choice and eliminate the pain.
False Belief # 4
I am what I am. I am hopeless. I cannot change.
Here is the most dangerous of the Four False Belief's. A place of hopelessness where all attempts to change are given up. An acceptance that this is just the way it is. This is who I am. I cannot change.
The wonderful part in all of this despair and hopelessness, is that There is a POWER greater than ourselves.......greater than the sum of these false beliefs, who can, and will, restore us to sanity. The restoration begins when we make a conscious decision to turn will and life over to His care.
The POWER has a name....
Jesus....
Think on these things.....
God on you....
mb
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