Recovery Under the Cross

It doesn't matter if we're an addict or not. Life can be exhausting. Life is certainly physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, but it's also spiritually exhausting. Where do we find spiritual rest for our weak and weary faith? Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30.

The 11th Step encourages people in recovery from addiction to pray to improve conscious contact with God. What does that mean in the context of Scripture? Prayer by itself won't strengthen our faith in God because prayer is us talking to God. We get far more benefit from prayer as the natural result of hearing and spending time in God's Word where he reveals Himself to us and reveals His plan of salvation through Christ.
 
The first episode of Recovery Under the Cross is mentioned. If you haven't listened to the first episode, here's the link.

Resisting temptation is difficult at best, and often times impossible. Our sinful nature gives into temptation so easily, and so naturally. This week we see how a young man who was sold into slavery in Egypt resisted temptation and called what his master's wife wanted him to do as a great sin against God.
May God work in us the desire to say, "NO!" to temptation like Joseph did to Potiphar's wife.

Step 10 gets into the maintenance steps. While Step 10 advises taking continued personal inventory and admitting when we're wrong, Christians do that through repentance as part of denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, and following Jesus.
Taking up our cross on a daily basis and following Jesus flies in the face of what the world wants us to do. Following Jesus isn't without earthly hardship and persecution. It's the Heavenly reward Jesus won for us that keeps us motivated to follow him.

It was a foregone conclusion that Saul (Paul) was not going to find any encouragement from his fellow Pharisees and Chief Priests regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus. They wanted to silence followers of Christ. Since Saul was now proclaiming Christ crucified, this moved the Jews in Saul's day who hated Christ to conspire to kill Saul. It was time for Saul to get out of Damascus and head to Jerusalem.
In similar fashion, recovering addicts won't find the kind of encouragement they need to stay sober if they hang out with the same crowd from when they were using. The old crowd encourages recovering addicts to come back and catch up on "all the fun they missed." That's a disaster waiting to happen. Instead, the recovering addict will find a new group of friends who will encourage sobriety and encourage you to fill up on the Bread of Life (John 6) and drink the Water of Life (John 4) that is Jesus.

Making amends is about moving forward with producing fruits of repentance and forgiveness. On the one side of the amends making process, the addict seeks the forgiveness of those whom he or she has sinned against by his or her addiction. The other side involves the person on the receiving side of the amends making process. Both sides can easily fall into sin. The addict could relapse. The person against whom the addict sinned could be dismissive of what the addict says or does. Thankfully, we have Jesus who has taken all of those sins away.
Listen how the apostles and disciples of the risen and ascended Lord react and eventually move forward when Saul, later Paul, repents of his former way of life and produces fruits of repentance by the grace of God and with the help of God.

It's not easy to find joy, or find the time to pray, or be thankful early on in sobriety. God gives us the reason to do all three of those things even though times are difficult. We rejoice in the salvation we have because of Christ. We pray and give thanks for anything and everything God gives to us in our lives. 

The first seven steps focus on repentance. The eighth step is the first step that alludes to producing the fruits of repentance. Making a list of whom we hurt with our addiction and how we hurt them isn't a pleasant experience. It forces us to relive the sins we committed against our family, our co-workers, our friends, and most importantly, against God. 
This episode looks at a familiar Bible story of Jesus visiting Zacchaeus at his house. Zacchaeus repented of his sin of cheating people out of money to line his own pockets. Zacchaeus showed the fruits of his repentance were blossoming when he told Jesus he would give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back four-fold the amount of money he cheated people.
May God move in us the courage and desire to show our fruits of repentance as we prepare to make amends to those whom we harmed with our addiction.

Sometimes we go overboard applying God's law to ourselves, leaving little to no room for the comfort of the Gospel. Feelings of worthlessness overcome us because we know we've sinned against God and others with our addiction.
The Apostle Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners - the worst sinner. Despite calling himself the worst sinner, Paul marvels at the mercy God showed to him in Christ. It is because of Christ's saving work that we have self-worth. Our self-worth is rooted in Christ.

God is the one who helps us remove our character defects which are rooted in our sinful nature. God molds us and shapes us to be the people he has called us to be in Christ.