Strange bedfellows? Not really-they have more in common than you might think. They easily become addictions that have powerful control over us. Forget the priority list of what we might say is important to us-these frequently win every time.
Think about Exodus 20:1-3 in the Word on the Street version of the Bible. “No. I’m your God, your God who liberated you from slave labour in the sweatshops of Egypt. I get total priority. You won’t have any other gods taking your attention from me. I’m it, the only God. No other god’s worth squat.” The challenge we fight every day is an addiction to really following Jesus or to anything else. These are addictions that war against one another all the time. We decide which one wins many times every day.
Matthew 6:19-21 brings it into focus. Everything other than a relationship with Jesus has a “sell by date” attached to it. Don’t waste your time -or your life chasing them.
Or think about Colossians 3:2. Our energy should be consumed by investing in what really matters to God. How serious are you in being addicted only to what matters to God? Get some opinions from a few friends.