Twelve-Step Recovery and Jesus
They meet in Room W21 upstairs and in our Fellowship Hall. They met before COVID, during COVID, and they are still meeting. Some come on Tuesday, some on Thursday. Some are recovering alcoholics, and some are still trying to deal with the everlasting effects of alcoholism in their lives. This is recovery in action.
AA, Al-Anon, NA, GA, OA, SA — that 12-Step Recovery — seems to work for those folks that are really messed up. You know the ones. Now in AA, they were once on the streets, clutching brown paper bags and wearing dirty clothes, or arrested for a DUII, and the judge ordered them to attend. The family members and friends of alcoholics attend Al-Anon for relief. Their struggling person cannot quit drinking despite their best efforts to rid the house of booze, lock down the credit card, and threaten to leave if it gets any worse. 12-Step recovery works for those trapped in gambling addiction, food addiction, drug addiction, sexual addiction, and more. Good for them.
Thank goodness believers like us know Jesus, the Creator of Heaven and Earth and everything in them. Jesus saves. He is the answer to all of our problems. Just look in almost any one of those 66 books housed in the Holy Bible and instructions can be found for how to stay free from those besetting addictions. Write scripture on your doorposts, attend Bible study, listen to sermons, pray. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is THE WAY! Isn’t that enough for us?
Yes. And no. Not for some.
Some of us (not me, but some just like me) need a little more help getting THE WAY into our life where we live every day. Crippled by fear, resentment, pride, and other character defects, we soothe ourselves with alcohol, food, gambling, or other coping mechanisms. We find ourselves trapped in Romans 7:24,
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
trying with all our might to get over that 1,000 foot high wall to Romans 7:25,
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.
The principles of 12-Step recovery are a life-saving ladder to the spiritual strength to climb out of despair.
Trust God
Clean House
Help Others
Admitting defeat and linking arms with others that were trapped in the same circumstance — yet found freedom — the outstretched hand and the empty chair made recovery possible. Praise the Lord! Sometimes God hides in plain sight. We need help to see him. Shame and guilt form the solid iron bars of a prison of our own making. Breaking free is possible. 12-Step recovery has been successfully passing out keys to the jail cell for 87 years.
It works if you work it. And you’re worth it.