Fighting Addictions and
Bad Habits
Father Cedric Pasegna in
his 6:00 a.m. broadcast on TBN on Feb. 4th
ended his program with a simple 3 step approach to overcoming habits
one would like to be rid of but lack the will power to break. Habits
such as over eating, gossiping, laziness television & cell phone
over-use plus addictions to nicotine, porn, and drugs can be
overcome by first, admitting to God you are powerless to break that
stronghold. Then says Father Cedric, you tell God you believe He has
the power to deliver you from that habit, and lastly you trust God
with the whole battle based on the scripture, “the battle is the
Lord’s.”
His teaching astonished
me because I recognized that his 3 steps, “admit, trust, surrender”
were exactly those I stumbled upon in trying to stop smoking. As I
have previously written, I sat in the Econo Foods parking lot
smoking a butt I had stolen from their outside ash tray and
chagrined that I had once again failed in my efforts to quit. Then
in desperation I said to God, “God, I just can’t quit so I’m gonna
give the battle to you. I’ve heard you can do anything, so thanks.”
Then I went right on
smoking, but hoping God would come through. The results were
amazing: next cigarette that I bummed tasted odd and I tossed it
after a couple puffs. The next morning at the NDSCS library I joined
my English teacher cohort, Errol Erickson who got a wicked delight
out of tempting me with free smokes. I accepted it and it tasted so
rotten, one puff was enough. I tried one more smoke that afternoon
and that was awful too. Then I realized that God was being true to
his word. If we confess our weakness to him, (admit we are
powerless), trust God’s power to help us, and surrender
it all to Him, He is “faithful and just to forgive us and deliver us
from our sin.”
I think I struck a vein
of rich teaching when I discovered Father Cedric. If I’m lucky to be
up by six on Sunday mornings, I usually try to catch his program
“Living with Passion.” I love his humble, straight-forward approach.
I think he appeals to people on a human level, well aware of the
burdens people carry. Hearing confessions probably opens a huge door
of understanding of the burdens many people bear.
His “live with passion”
theme also reminded me of classes I had back in the 70’s trying to
get through to a generation that seemed so ‘laid back’ that the only
thing that turned them on was “far out” acid hard rock music which I
didn’t much care for. I recall getting theatrical in one class and
proclaiming to them, “this is a great poem. Doesn’t anything turn
you on? Wherein the hell is your passion? You need to get passionate
about something. Life is passing you Lotus Eaters by.” They looked
on stolidly and gaped, “far out.”
Too many of us judge
others by their denomination rather than by the strength and content
of their character. I once stereotyped a denomination for only
wanting to preach about Saturday sabbaths and the prophecies in the
books of Danial and The Revelation.
Still, I tuned in their
Saturday morning show and who was being interviewed but one of my
true heroes, Dr. Ben Carson, the brilliant pioneer in heart surgery.
I’d once hoped he’d run for president so I could vote for him. But
he was too humble and soft spoken to stand a chance against the
typical politic wind-sacks feeding us their party lines. The Carson
interview taught me that it’s always good to keep looking even in
unfamiliar places for the great ones sojourning out there whose
wisdom can improve one’s life in so many ways. Have ears to hear.
That message may be God talking to you.
Father Cedric’s 3 point
teaching once more reminded me of the song the two little Whistler
kid did for our church back in the 80’s: “I cast all my cares upon
you/ I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet/ And any time, I
don’t know/ What I should do/ I will cast all my cares upon you.”
That song through the
voices of little children, is one of the most powerful moments a
Christian can experience. “Got your ears on, Good Buddy?”
“Somebody’s knocking/ Will you let Him in?”
Gene Pinkney for the Daily
News 2/5/23
