A U-Turn From Emotional IssuesSample

One of the major emotional strongholds people deal with today is known as codependency. There are other terms that expand this stronghold to just beyond one relationship—those terms would be people-pleasing and social-media addictions. But, for starters, let’s look at codependency.

Codependency is a coping mechanism (one form of an emotional stronghold) that enables a person to deal—albeit wrongly—with a lack he or she may feel. Perhaps there is a lack of self-worth and self-esteem or strong feelings of being rejected. Regardless, codependency usually involves using a person or people to fix what is broken. I call this having a people stronghold.

God is the only One who has the power and the ability to meet our needs. The trouble comes when we insist on turning to others before we turn to Him. Throughout His Word, we read how

God uses people in the lives of others. However, we never read where God is pleased when we allow people and things to take His place. In fact, the opposite is true; we have created an emotional idol. Even an addiction to social media can fall into the category of emotional idolatry.

There exists a fine line between enjoying some relationship or benefiting from social media connections and the devolution of emotional relationships or comparisons. People and relationships are a gift which we should enjoy. But we also want to be careful that we do not allow our emotions to turn into a stronghold of depression, loneliness, envy, doubt, or fear.

You need to remind yourself that, in Christ, you have everything you need. You don’t need to hold out for something from some other person to make you complete.

What or whom are you relying on for your sense of self-worth?

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