Addiction: Proverbs 14:12 - There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Romans 7:15 - For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
These two verses show the power and lie that an addiction has over an individual who has started down that slippery slope of using. You can blame the substance all you want, but at the heart of it all is a broken relationship with Christ. A heart that is not connected to the very one who gave it life. A heart that is driven, ruled, and influenced by a nature....a behavior that society refuses to admit to. We call it a sin nature. I don't sit here this morning posting this entry with the idea that I am above such nature. I'm not. I came into this world with the bent in my character...my heart...and my thinking that affected my life. Every human ever born comes equipped with such a nature. You see, it isn't the deeds we do because of this nature that we refer to as sin. Sin is the heart (the center of will, emotion and intellect) of who we are. We carry this death sentence around with us. Some folks are good at not allowing this nature to run rampant (such as drugging and drinking)...other aren't. No matter what the evidence is in your life of that nature....we are all still in need of having that animal destroyed so we could live life on Jesus' terms. So in one sense, recovery is more than simply "not using" or giving into that old desire that captured us in the first place, recovery is establishing a real relationship with Jesus, our Creator.
Recovery - The entire process of healing from the painful effects of dysfunctional behavior.
Healing....real healing that affects every area of our life comes through a relationship that we come to with Jesus Christ. God created us with a glorious purpose in mind. Sin has warped and twisted that purpose. Recovery is the process of restoring what sin has taken away.
So, bottom line is that the goal of recovery is to live a life of joyful obedience in this relationship we have been given through our salvation with Christ. To maintain abstinence because we want to, not because we have to. Recovery is the process of developing a Christ-honoring lifestyle that meets the needs we tried to satisfy with drugs and/ or alcohol.
All recovery (no matter what the focus of your problem is...drinking...gambling....drugs...sex) begins at the same place..at the same point...with the same confession.
We call it Step # 1!
We admitted that by ourselves, we are powerless over our compulsive behavior (no matter how it may manifest in our life)---that our lives have become unmanageable.
We have looked inside ourselves for the answer to our problem, and we cannot, nor did we, find it. With this reality, we begin the search for the answer to our problem. Until I can admit my need and that I am not the answer to my problem, I can never break free of this beast that controls my life.
Today, know that there is an answer.
There is a Power that can free you.
The Power has a name.
That name is JESUS.
God on you...
mbb
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