Sounds To Simple---Doesn't It?

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Wouldn't it be great if there were a secret formula to this thing called life?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could unlock some hidden wisdom that would give us the edge in our daily life?

Yet, the very thing we search for has been there all along. He isn't hidden. He isn't covered over by centuries of dust, locked away in some small country that we can't even pronounce the name of.

As the picture above states so eloquently......There's no secret formula...Just Jesus!

Psalm 19:13 is speaking of Jesus' capability to watch over a life that has been entrusted to Him.

Keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins....

Let them not have dominion over me....
Then  I shall be blameless And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

In these verses, we see a Jesus who watches over and guides those whose hearts are committed to Him. A Jesus who is an active participant in the daily life of an individual who has been saved. This Jesus, that I write about today, is the missing piece in the recovery of many an individual.

Why is that? Why do they miss the simple fact that Steps # 1, 2 and 3 all point to the cross of Christ and the saving work that He accomplished? Sometimes it is because they have no frame of reference in which to understand who Jesus truly is. They approach their addiction and recovery as a mental exercise, with the thought that all they have to do is make decisions.

Well, the deciding part of recovery is a reality. But the decision comes from the heart and not the brain. It comes from the total realization that we are broken or, as the Bible states, Poor In Spirit. No answers to any of the problems we are facing. No solutions that seem to pop up from our own thoughts. We are powerless. Only God can take us into the depths of our brokenness so we can truly see the state of our life. The feelings that we experience during this little journey of self discovery are called "Conviction". In other words, God shows us the exact nature of what has been accomplished through our using and drinking, but He doesn't leave us in that place to wallow in self-pity and despair. God lovingly point us to the solution to our problem. The solution is found in an individual........Jesus. Just Jesus!

Freedom and Salvation aren't found in a program or in  working the steps. 

Freedom and Salvation are found in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Twelve Steps are merely directions on what to do next as we are entering uncharted territory. The Steps point us in the direction we need to head in and provide a clearly marked path that has been trodden by many who have come before us.

Psalm 107:19

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.

Here we have the first steps to a new way of living.

The recognition that

1.) I need help on multiple levels. Spiritually, I am in desperate need to be saved from the power of sin......the presence of sin.....and the penalty of sin.

2.) I place my trust and my faith in Jesus as being the only means of being restored to sanity (or the ability to make sound decisions).

3.) I turn over my will and my life to His care, and become willing to simply follow Him.

So scream out to God------"Oh God! Save Me"

One of the best prayers I've ever prayed occurred during one of the darkest periods in my life. I was at the end......and I mean the end. I never will forget that I cried out to God while I was driving home, and said, "God, either heal me or kill me...do one or the other, but I can't go on living like this." 

You know what?
He answered that prayer.
Oh, it wasn't an instantaneous the-heavens-parted-and-angels-descended answer to my prayer.
I was filled with a quiet peace for the first time in a long time.
The anxiety was gone along with the doubt and fear.
There was a knowing inside me that He was going to take me through the things I was facing.

Isn't that weird?
That in an age that prides itself on the technology it creates....
That prides itself on the ability of the human will and spirit....

That the answer to our situation is found in one individual, and only one....

Just Jesus!

God on you...

mb