How badly do you want to die? Feeding an obsession is like drinking poison.
Is obsession a physical thing or a mental thing? I tend to lean more toward physical, because being obsessed about something has a deep visceral feeling, like hunger. The thing about it, is that being hungry and being obsessed about food are very different. Hunger is physical thing. Being obsessed is a mental one. Because it feels so physical, it feels like I have no control over it. For example, I am hungry because my body needs food or I’ll die. The problem is that an obsession is the exact opposite, feed it and you die – or at least some part of you never gets to live.
Our obsessions usually come from some unfulfilled desire or emotional need in the past. Before you feed your obsession, look deep and hard into your soul to figure out where it came from. Why? Because an obsession can never be satisfied, and the time and energy you give it, will starve out other areas of your life. Ask yourself this. Does an alcoholic drink because they’re thirsty? Does a hoarder collect because they need more things? You end up trying to use a physical solution to solve a spiritual problem.
I know a man who was obsessed with being rich. He is rich…now. But he’s lonely. He’s also overweight and unhealthy…and unhappy. Why is it we want to be rich anyway? Because what we really want is value; we want people to say “wow” when they look at us; we want love. In his obsession for the shallow love money would get him, he sacrificed the deep fulfilling love he could have experienced with a family and profound friendships. The comfort money gives him is robbed by the discomfort of failing health.
And finally you will die – we all do. And when you stand before God he will say nice work making all that money, or closing that deal, or buying that house? I think not. He’ll say how did you treat your family, your co-workers, employees, the poor and needy? Not only will obsession rob you of what you of the very thing it promises to deliver on earth, it costs you the most valuable thing you have. Mark 8:36