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TRUTH
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Ephesians 2:1-2
REFLECTION
It’s good to get nailed to the wall every now and then.
Maybe we’d be better off if we were convicted more often, not less.
In the self-assured righteousness of a tepid early faith, I raised myself up too high to breathe comfortable on my own but not enough to really see the spiritual landscape around me.
I wanted self-reliance without the costs of sacrifice. I wanted grace without the mess of sin.
Addiction is a wonderful ointment.
Reality, for a time, mattered little. So long as I stayed comfortably numb to it, I was allowed to pontificate about it while meandering around it without a clue as to its origin.
Deadness is as accessible to the living as the perished, maybe more so.
It takes little effort to begin the drift into worry, remorse, self-pity, and the hundred forms of fear and self-delusion that fuel the addictive nature in convinced lies at least dormant in all of us.
Is the slow heat of a live ember any less potent than the raging fire of full-blown addiction?
It’s a wonderful ointment while it lasts, but fire burns on.
I always thought that I couldn’t leave myself behind—that the pleas to die to self were allegory and quite a bit too extreme a thought.
The truth is that they’re not extreme enough. It is difficult to desire the goodness of God enough as it deserves without having glimpsed a piece of the hell that it shelters us against.
God, dowse me with the peace that surpasses understanding.
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When you’re ready, here are some tools for you:
Book List (amazon link)
Some of my favorite reads related to recovery and/or wrestling with faith.4th Step Guide (free download)
A PDF with instructions and worksheets for a thorough 4th step. Straight from the Big Book. Fearlessness not included.12-Step Christianity (YouTube)
My thoughts on the parallels between discipleship and sponsorship.
KEEP LEANING FORWARD
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