4 minute read
By Bethany Rees

Have you ever worn a sweater only to come into contact with Velcro? 

Maybe you’ve had the displeasure of ripping duct tape off of your skin or getting gum out of your hair. 

Whether it has been Velcro, tape, gum, 3M wall strips, or even those sticky pest traps we put in our garages, chances are you’ve had some sort of experience with things that attach or stick really well. 

While sticky things definitely can serve a positive purpose, we can sometimes become so attached to them that we struggle to get unstuck. 

We can get attached to our habits of scrolling social media for hours, eating our feelings, or binge watching a show…”Yes Netflix, I would like to continue watching the next episode.” 

We can get too attached to an image of what we should look like, the parents we should be, or the house we should have. 

We can become attached to people or experiences. 

Our attachment can then cause some unhealthy emotions, behaviors, and habits to develop. Codependency anyone? 

Here recently I’ve noticed (and been told by my husband 😉) that I am attached to something from my past. My attachment is creating feelings and behaviors that are teetering on the border of unhealthiness. 

Have you ever had that experience of feeling so attached to a past experience that it can make you feel stuck, angry, or bitter?

When we attach ourselves to things, experiences, or even people so tightly that it begins to alter who we are and how we behave in a negative way…we just might have an idol problem in our lives. 

Ouch! Those words punched me in my face. 

The band Casting Crowns had it right...it’s often a slow fade in which we give ourselves away. We become so attached to a feeling or desire that we give ourselves away. 

When we get so wrapped up in something that we feel like we can’t walk away from it, it may mean that we’ve placed it above God in our lives. 

Nothing in and of itself is usually bad…it’s the love of it that becomes sin. 

No one can serve two masters! 

Jesus reminds us of this in Luke 16:13-15: 

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.  He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” [emphasis is mine]

We must learn how to be able to detach ourselves from things, experiences, and even people when the attachment replaces God and our desire to be “set apart” for Him. 

To detach means to disengage or remove ourselves from something. 

For me, I had a vision for a school that I was unable to see come to fruition. Yet my thoughts and feelings can often become consumed with whether or not that school is on track to reaching the vision I had for it. 

I need to learn to detach myself from the thought of what was so I can be free to face what is.

For others, maybe their attachment is to an idea of needing affirmation and validation from others so they have been posting on social media to get likes or talking to a person of the opposite sex to feel seen.

Attachments can come in all kinds of thoughts, actions, experiences, or people. 

Pray and ask God to reveal any unhealthy attachments you may have in your life. 

Whatever it is you find yourself attached to, pray and ask God to help you detach. 

To help me with this newly forming behavior, I verbally tell myself “Detach Bethany.” Saying those words out loud helps me reframe my thoughts and step away from what I am becoming attached to. 

So the next time you find yourself stuck in a thought, show, reel scroll, desire, activity, or unhealthy experience and relationship pray to ask God to help you detach. 

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Learn to Detach!

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.  He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

~ Luke 16:13-15

Theme Song: 

Slow Fade by Casting Crowns

References Used:

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.