ADDICTION

Addiction comes in many forms and varieties. Some may be addicted in drugs, sex, gambling and others. I am going to write here about Approval Addiction.

I read a book by Joyce Meyer about Approval Addiction. The first time I saw it, I said to myself, really is there such a thing as Approval Addiction? As I read the book, i realized that sometimes in our daily walk in this life without knowing it, we are addicted to other peoples approval. If we do something good for others, we expected in return that they will appreciate what we do. But the next question, comes into our mind, why do we do it? Maybe because of insecurities or somewhere in our past experiences, we encountered rejections that leads us to have a tendency to do good to others, to fill the emptiness-to be loved, eventhough we say to ourselves, I did it because I just want to do good or maybe we reason out by saying that-hey, I did it because it is written “love others as ourselves”. Well, we can justify anyway we want it. You may say to yourself, I do not want to do anything no more concerning other people because maybe I am addicted to approval. Check it out! Bottom line is just be honest to yourself.

Let us check our motives for doing it. Is it because we want to win people? Does it compromise something? On my perspective, I agree with what Joyce Meyer wrote in her book. She said that, “It is not bad or evil to please people, what is evil is if it compromises the will of God in our lives”. Well, the great way to do it, is to love God first, please Him only and everything will follow. It is the same as saying, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all this things shall be added unto you”. If we have this motive and attitude, our fruits from every experiences that we encounter, whether it is to our advantage or not, is a blessing. Pleasing God because you love Him will automatically please the people around you. So, let's prioritize the will of God. This is true, I experienced it.

Lastly, here's my suggestion: check your motives before you do something and decide wisely or you can follow my principle “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all this things shall be added unto you; love and please God first". Either way, we all have our free will to decide for ourselves. Just remember that in the end, it is between you(me) and your(my) God. It's a matter of choice.

THE SPEECH

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things." says Barrack Obama during his inaugural speech as the 44th US President early this morning (1am Philippine time). As I listened to the rest of his speech, the word "the time has come to set aside childish things" keeps ringing in my mind. I said to myself,that's right I read that in the Bible but another situation flashed in my mind, it was when some parents brought little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him.

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it".

So I asked myself, how do we reconcile this truth? I prayed and an understanding of this principle came to me. Childish ways are immature ways. They do not know yet of what is wrong and right, thus they need guidance in their decisions. While the faith of a child is pure and innocent. Let me illustrate, when you promise something to a child, they never forget it, they always remember. As to the legal side, children are the best witnesses because they never know how to lie. Children believes in following what is right. They are easy to say sorry if they commits mistakes because they have pure hearts and mind.

So what, you may asked. What is the importance of knowing the difference?

In my perspective, let us possess the faith of a child in believing our God and in our everyday relationship with Him and with others. To be pure, innocent and honest in all our motives. Let us be a God pleaser like a child who always wants to please his or her parents but in applying it let us not be childish. As Barrack Obama says, "the time has come to set aside childish things."

Kung Hei Fat Choi 2009 everyone! To all law students who are having a hard time memorizing legal forms in the bar exams a colleague of mine atty. zigfred diaz wrote a free book entitled "A Dunce guide to writing legal forms in the Philippine bar exams." I used it when I took the bar last September and it helped me. If it helps me maybe it can help you. To download a copy visit him at http://zdiaz.com, thanks!