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The Solution for Emotional Dependency


Some time ago, I received this question: “Someone told me that I am emotionally dependent. Is that like being addicted to someone? What is the cure for emotional dependency?”

You may be emotionally dependent, obsessive, or “addicted” to someone, but you should not think in these terms. As soon as you define yourself that way, you have hindered the cure. You end up focusing on the problem. Here is the solution. It requires some homework.

·       Think of yourself as a child of God.

·       “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). Believe it.

·       Realize where you are in Jesus Christ. Read Ephesians 1:13 through chapter 3 and Colossians 1 and 2. Do not think about doing. Think about being. Look at what these passages say you are in Christ.

·       Read the Gospel of John. Mark every reference about God the Father. See what the text says about the Father. Thank God.

·       Reach out to the unlovely, not for your good, but for theirs. “Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous’” (Luke 14:12-14).

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