Teen Talk: Addiction comes in many forms

If you suffer from an addiction, you are not alone. Jesus wants to help you. 

Dinesh Ting Tadepalli

Most days during summer break, I would wake up around 8:50 a.m., turn on the TV, and just lie on the couch. 

Here’s the problem: There are shows always airing on TV, 24/7. Because of this, I would constantly watch TV, while also constantly text on my phone. I never wanted to miss a single episode on TV or text from my phone. It was clear that I was addicted. Overall, I was pretty sluggish during summer break. I didn’t want to do anything else. 

And it did not work out for my good. Heading toward the first day of the school year, I was very lazy. Though I didn’t often watch TV during the school year, I was on my phone frequently. I was addicted to my phone. You could say my motto at that time was “First play, then work.” I wanted to know what the next message would be. I’d tell myself every couple of minutes to do my homework thoroughly and diligently. But later, I found myself cramming in my homework at the last second before school.  

My irresponsibility eventually led to a huge blow when I saw my first quarter grades. It was the worst quarterly GPA of my high school years. I wanted to hide the grades, but I couldn’t. And I couldn’t go back in time and change them. What happened happened. The toothpaste was already out of the tube, and I couldn’t put it back. My addiction was controlling my life and my grades. What happened during summer break had taken over.  

I know I’m not alone. Others daily and excessively use drugs and/or cigarettes, play video games, watch pornography, or text on their phone. They sacrifice what is important for their addiction.  

And the worst is that your addiction cannot be seen as okay, because it’s slaughtering your faith in what matters most—Jesus Christ. You think of him less and less. It may happen that what you want becomes more important than your faith.   

Jesus is what should be meaningful in your life. He lived a perfect life and died not just for your addiction, but also for all of your wrongdoings. There may be consequences of your addiction, like my poor semester grades. But God annihilated the spiritual consequence—eternal death. God doesn’t see you as a filthy sinner. Despite your addiction, he sees you as his holy and righteous child. Because of Jesus, God delights in you. 

When you remember that, you can do something about your addiction. To destroy a sinful addiction, you have to take it out by the root. If you are addicted to drugs and/or cigarettes, throw them all in the garbage. If it is video games, uninstall all your games and use your computer less frequently. If it is pornography, block it and get rid of your computer. If it is texting, power off your phone and do something that gives glory to God. You may also need to seek counseling. But what’s even more important is to stay strong in your faith. 

If you think that you’ll never get rid of your addiction, you’re actually right. You probably can’t get rid of it. But Jesus can. Nothing is impossible through him. With his strength, you can conquer your addiction. He is always by your side.

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Dinesh Ting Tadepelli, a junior at Lakeside Lutheran High School, Lake Mills, Wisconsin, is a member at Eastside, Madison, Wisconsin.

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Author: Dinesh Ting Tadepalli
Volume 105, Number 12
Issue: December 2018

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