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Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8
REFLECTION
Why on earth are we so reluctant to get better?
In the face of alcoholic torture, we often pause to take stock—to consider whether or not to plow ahead into the known darkness ahead.
The choice makes no sense to bystanders. It’s not even a choice to the sane person.
But to us, there’s a spiritual turning point that must be reached before we teeter over the edge of our own self-absorbed misgivings.
We have found a companion in our addiction. It has carried us through thick and thin. It has consoled and empowered us. It has never judged us. Even as it crippled and dismembered our sense of self.
Without the will to sacrifice our dear friend of addiction, we become stuck in between sobriety and drunkenness.
And of course, you are either drinking or not. This is an all or nothing thing. So, addiction wins so long as we remain on the edge.
But willingness can unlock the motives to live we had buried under our addiction. It can be a spark, but it only catches fire if we feed it with immediate action.
We’ve got to get busy like our life depends on it. Because it does.
The biding time BS of floundering around in early sobriety isn’t going to be effective. To change, we need to change. We need to take action.
Thank God for the wisdom of those before us. It can be easy to rest on our laurels after a handful of sober days. But it’s not enough.
If nothing else changes, the temptation of drinking will come again.
We need the insulation of the assurance of victory over this malady. And for this we need God.
The guidance of others can take us to the doorway, but when it comes to our full deliverance, it becomes a personal matter.
It becomes the one personal decision that overshadows them all.
God, draw me to you.
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