How do we go from “I’m not sure I like it” to “I’m totally addicted to it” in terms of the Bible or anything else? Ask a chocoholic how she became addicted to chocolate. She probably doesn’t know. She tasted it, liked it, and wanted more and more. That’s essentially how we become addicted to anything. Here’s how I describe the steps to addiction:
- Taste brings delight.
- Delight creates desire.
- Desire seeks opportunity.
- Opportunity confirms delight.
- Delight increases desire.
- Repeat steps 3-5 until you desire it above all else.
Let’s look at how these steps relate to our quest to increase our delight in God’s Word.
Taste brings delight. “Try it, you’ll like it.” Have you ever been encouraged to try something new—especially something you thought you might not like? I wonder if people sometimes start out with a preconception that they aren’t going to like the Bible. Perhaps they tried it and didn’t understand what they read, so it reinforced that negative opinion. That can be a difficult preconception to overcome, but the Bible comes with its own taste-test guarantee: “Taste and see.”
David wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8). Notice that it says “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” The guarantee is that you’re going to recognize God’s goodness. Similarly, Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Delight in the Lord. That is the key.
When you love God, you’ll love His Word. It changes your preconception about God’s Word. When you’re in love with the Author, you’re going to come to His book with great interest.
More importantly, when you know the Author, you can ask Him to help you understand the difficult parts, and you might even feel motivated (out of love) to dig a little deeper to study it for yourself.
Changing your perception changes your approach to the Bible. Taste and see that the Lord is good because taste brings delight.
Delight creates desire. There used to be a potato chip advertising slogan that said, “Betcha can’t eat just one.” That’s because if you eat one, you’ll crave another. Soon you’ll realize you ate half a bag without even thinking about it.
When you realize God’s Word tastes good, you’ll keep coming back for more because delight creates desire. The prophet Jeremiah’s desire for the Word of God appears in his prayer: “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies” (Jeremiah 15:16).
The joy of the biblical writers is contagious, isn’t it? God’s Word is so delightful; I bet you can’t get enough.
Desire seeks opportunity. Once you crave something, you seek opportunity to satisfy that craving. As the psalmist said, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night” (Psalm 1:2).
Day and night. Have you ever had a craving in the middle of the night? I won’t make you confess to sticking a spoon in the peanut butter jar at two a.m., but the person who delights in God and His Word will seek to satisfy that desire day and night. Our desire, fueled by delight in the Lord, causes us to seek every opportunity to spend time with Him.
Opportunity confirms delight. When you try something and like it, you want to try it again. When you like it the second time, it confirms the delightful experience. You realize it was no accident: this really is good. Confirming the experience reinforces the desire, making it stronger. The psalmist makes this type of affirmation: “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey” (Psalm 119:103). At this point, we are well on our way to a healthy addiction to God’s Word.
Delight increases desire. We are now moving from “I like chocolate” to “I crave chocolate.” When experience reinforces a desire, the desire increases. Naturally, increased desire creates a longing for more of God and God’s Word. As the psalmist declared, “O Lord, I have longed for your rescue and your instructions are my delight” (Psalm 119:174). This expresses a longing for God Himself, and an affirmation of God’s Word as a delight.
A longing for God’s Word without a longing for God Himself should be a warning sign. It’s dangerous to fill our head with knowledge of the Bible if our heart is not engaged. Remember, spending time in the Bible is about our relationship with God, not about how much knowledge we can shove in our brains.
Repeat steps 3-5 until you desire it above all else. This is where addiction sets in. If you think about it, what is addiction except an expression of how much we value something?
David writes that God’s laws are “more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb” (Psalm 19:10). David valued the Word of God more than a stockpile of gold and he enjoyed it more than honey. How much do you value God’s Word? Do you enjoy it more than chocolate? To enjoy God’s Word more than chocolate is to delight in God’s Word.
In theory, we all want to say we value God’s Word, but let’s put it in concrete terms. Financial advisors say they can determine your priorities by how you spend your money. That may be true, but someone can also determine your priorities by how you spend your time. After all, if you spend your money, you can still get more money, but you can spend your time only once.
Do you enjoy God’s Word more than television? More than the Internet? More than your phone? If you find yourself turning off the television, unplugging from the Internet, or ignoring your phone to study the Bible, you have developed a healthy addiction. That’s a true expression of how much you value God’s Word.
This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.
Sweeter Than Chocolate 