I hope the following lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family devotionals, family counselors, and family home evenings. Today’s theme is on personal addiction.

Object lesson: Get a wide plastic bowel or bucket and fill it with water. This activity might be good to be done outside. Collect several green leaves from a nearby tree. Write the names of each family members on a leaf with a magic marker. Also write the word home on one and relationships on another. Place the small leaves on the surface of the water. Get several strips of masking tape and write the following words each on a strip: alcohol, pornography, lying and stealing. Or if the family has some private issue you want to discuss write add that particular thing on a piece of tape. On those masking tape pieces wrapped them around small pebbles.

Now take turns plopping each small pebble into the water. As a family, or as a class, discuss how the waves created by the small pebbles tossed the leaves around. We may think our personal addiction only concerns us. Many times it may appear like that, but just as the pebbles tossed into the water influence the leaves, so our private addictions can influence our relationships with others.

We may not realize how our actions can influence our families, friends, and strangers who observe us. Let me give some examples. Being unfaithful to one’s marriage partner shows that person is not willing to keep the promise of loyalty to their marriage partner. If they break that promise, what other ones, are they capable of? Lying shows someone that can’t be trusted on the things they say. Pornography can skew one’s perceptions and respect of other people. If you have other examples of issues you want to discuss with your family or class, please feel free to expound upon those specific examples.

Combating sin and can be worked on with the help of our association with Christ and with positive family and friends. But we also must have the desire to improve. There is the phrase “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”. Many people have achieved great success in overcoming personal addiction by first acknowledging that he or she has a problem.

Several decades ago I watched a movie called the conversation. I think that’s what was called. There was a visual image of body parts coming outside of a toilet. It was a very disturbing image. I would have preferred not to have that in my mind reservoir. So now I can better understand why there’s so much advice about avoiding movies that have bad content or songs that have lyrics that degrade somebody. I can better appreciate how you want to avoid putting in negative images such as pornography, or to restrain the temptations of stealing and lying. I have a hard enough time with the bad habits I have right now. It would be a real pain to have more added to my plate. Sin hinders our positive progression.

As I work on overcoming my own challenges, my efforts help me appreciate all the more the atonement of Christ. We have the promise that Christ’s mercy will absorb our sins, if we truly repent and follow Christ. I certainly find it difficult to overcome challenges just by myself. But besides Christ we can also have families and friends help us in our goals.

For those of you who enjoy sports, you might appreciate how each member of the team performs a specific function, but requires every member of the team to be completely devoted to the game to play successfully. A good team also includes members who can support one another in addition to working the hardest they can on their own task. One thing that helps me be a better person is to associate with people who share similar goals as I do. Going to church helps me associate with the types of people I would like to be.

At church, I might hear something someone reads from in the Scriptures, or note a comment from someone during a Sunday school lesson that may help me personally overcome some private challenge. My invitation is for us each keep working toward becoming our best selves.

If you have some ideas to share on this topic, please feel free to comment at the bottom of this blog. Thank you.