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Health Devotional
Working Ourselves to Death
Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!" . . . Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright." . . . So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Gen. 25:29-33, RSV.
Incredible as it may seem, Esau bartered away his birthright for a kettle of stew. He traded status and security to gratify physical appetite. Why didn't Esau think before he acted? How could anyone be so hungry that he would throw caution to the wind and cast away his inheritance without a second thought?
Obviously, Esau wasn't in his right mind. Was he drunk or "high"? We've known young people who have sold or traded valuable possessions for a pittance to buy drugs, others who have tossed their personal belongings into a campfire when they were high—just to watch them burn. And we've known adults who walked away from things they had struggled a lifetime to accomplish in order to appease some form of appetite.
Achievement, exercise, shopping, and working are a few mood-altering activities with addictive potential if carried to an extreme. Research has established that innocent shoppers seeking a bargain have the same physiological reaction, in terms of brain chemistry, as a hunter stalking his prey. An entrepreneur who pulls a swift business deal experiences a rush of endorphins similar to that of the cocaine user. When people are hooked on their own adrenaline, they don't have to buy drugs on the street. They manufacture their own.
Esau is an excellent example of someone with a "clean" addiction. Obsessed with the thrill of the hunt, he neglected his basic human needs. He didn't pause long enough to eat, and it placed him at risk. Many workaholics act similarly: they refuse to eat or sleep until they have completed the project at hand.
When we compromise our own well-being or the health and welfare of those we love in order to achieve a goal, we place ourselves at risk. If we are so driven that we cannot stop overachieving, overworking, or overdoing something in spite of the fact that it's hurting us, we're acting addictively. Working ourselves to death, eating ourselves into oblivion—such "clean" addictions are as deadly as alcoholism. As Christians, we cannot afford to deny this reality, or refuse to get the help we need to overcome them.
Do I have "clean" addictions in my life? If so, what can I do to find help to deal with them?
Incredible as it may seem, Esau bartered away his birthright for a kettle of stew. He traded status and security to gratify physical appetite. Why didn't Esau think before he acted? How could anyone be so hungry that he would throw caution to the wind and cast away his inheritance without a second thought?
Obviously, Esau wasn't in his right mind. Was he drunk or "high"? We've known young people who have sold or traded valuable possessions for a pittance to buy drugs, others who have tossed their personal belongings into a campfire when they were high—just to watch them burn. And we've known adults who walked away from things they had struggled a lifetime to accomplish in order to appease some form of appetite.
Achievement, exercise, shopping, and working are a few mood-altering activities with addictive potential if carried to an extreme. Research has established that innocent shoppers seeking a bargain have the same physiological reaction, in terms of brain chemistry, as a hunter stalking his prey. An entrepreneur who pulls a swift business deal experiences a rush of endorphins similar to that of the cocaine user. When people are hooked on their own adrenaline, they don't have to buy drugs on the street. They manufacture their own.
Esau is an excellent example of someone with a "clean" addiction. Obsessed with the thrill of the hunt, he neglected his basic human needs. He didn't pause long enough to eat, and it placed him at risk. Many workaholics act similarly: they refuse to eat or sleep until they have completed the project at hand.
When we compromise our own well-being or the health and welfare of those we love in order to achieve a goal, we place ourselves at risk. If we are so driven that we cannot stop overachieving, overworking, or overdoing something in spite of the fact that it's hurting us, we're acting addictively. Working ourselves to death, eating ourselves into oblivion—such "clean" addictions are as deadly as alcoholism. As Christians, we cannot afford to deny this reality, or refuse to get the help we need to overcome them.
Do I have "clean" addictions in my life? If so, what can I do to find help to deal with them?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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