Psalm 37:5
Commit your way to the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit......
Not a word that is often used when referring to someone who is struggling with addiction.
Commitment is not something that is often found in that persons life.
Why?
Because failure has been a constant friend and companion as they have journeyed together on the road to destruction.
Lack of commitment is a common denominator among most alcoholics and addicts.
It has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with the mental and spiritual beating they take for their lifestyle choices.
The devil attacks daily using shame and guilt to keep them under submission.
Guilt is aimed at what a person has done. All the lies they have told. All the relationships they have destroyed.
Shame is directed toward who they have become, the person they are. No mother sets out to raise a child who grows up to be a liar, thief, manipulator, or sexually immoral. Yet these are a part of the character makeup of most who travel down the addiction highway.
I can't give you a theological or scientific explanation as to what happens when a person finally decides to commit to God in this process of recovery. I know that it begins with God's Holy Spirit bringing that individual to a place where the real truth is known in their hearts. They are either going to change or they are going to die. Behind the idea of death is also the understanding that a choice made on this side of eternity affects their existence on the other side of eternity, so there are a lot of factors at work here.
That is why I love the verse from Psalms.
Commit....make that decision under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Make that commitment to not just quit using and drinking...but a commitment to God.
A commitment to turn will and life over to His care. You may not know what tomorrow holds, but it sure has to be better than your today.
Once that commitment has been made and you start this recovery journey, you will find that the desires of your heart begins to change.
You no longer will desire those things that use to cloud your mind and bring you into one bad choice after another. You will find that you will begin to desire what God desires for you.
This idea of commitment carries us into a new community of people.
Some refer to this community as "Church".
I find life in such a place. I learn how to love others and be loved by others.
I find a place where my hunger for God's word can be fed. Where I can be equipped to carry out Step#12-- taking the message to others.
In my commitment to God, I learn to leave everything with Him. In turn, God is trusting me, or rather entrusting me with more than just sobriety. More than just having a new life that is free from addiction. He has placed me in a geographical location to establish His kingdom rule. That is, I will go out everyday and be ready to share with others. Tell our story! Simply share with others what God has done to you and through you. Isn't that what Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8? "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be MY witnesses. I think it is. You see this Higher Power that we find in Step # 1, 2 and 3 does more for us than enable us to be clean and sober. We are infused with His perfect love. I don't have to tell my story. I want to tell my story. I wait for God's direction when I meet others and simply follow His lead when the moment is appropriate. All part of this commitment to new life and new relationship with Jesus.
How cool is that?
God on you....
mb
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