Recovery Under the Cross

God commands the prophet Isaiah to preach the message of the Gospel to comfort the people of Israel who will be taken away to Babylonian captivity a few generations after warning them of their idolatry. God does not abandon His people. He stands by his promise for a Savior from sin. So too with us. God stands by us who have sinned against him. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. God sent his...

Goodness. What does that mean? Ask 100 different people and you might get 100 different answers which all lead to the same basic concept - that which is virtuous or commendable. How does God define goodness? What does the Bible say? On our own, we are anything but good. However, because of Jesus, God works in us the desire for goodness and living our lives for Him.

Periodically, Recovery Under the Cross will use a Bible reading that fits with the current time of the Church Year. This episode was written and recorded during the season of Advent. During Advent, we focus our attention on the coming of the Savior - both his first and second coming. With Christmas around the corner, we focus on Jesus' first coming when he was born as a baby in Bethlehem. We also...

What does it mean to be kind, or to have kindness? It's more than being nice to one another. Being kind means to be selfless and contribute to the needs of others. This is something we do out of love for Christ because he loved us first.

The words we use have impact. We can use our words to tear down. We can use our words to build one another up. Paul encourages the Ephesians and us to build one another up with our words.

Moses reminded the Children of Israel not to forget from where all of their blessings came. Their blessings came from the LORD who led them out of slavery in Egypt, who provided for them in the desert for 40 years, and who will provide all of their future blessings. Moses' reminder for the Children of Israel is a good reminder for us, too. All of our blessings, sobriety included, come to us from o...

Patience. Sometimes it seems so difficult to have or find patience as a recovering addict, or as someone who was hurt by another person's addiction. It is because of what Christ has done to take away all of our sins that we have the desire to bear with one another in patience and love, forgiving one another just as Christ forgave us.

This week's Midweek Meditation is the third installment of the Fruits of the Spirit Series (Galatians 5:22,23). While we live in a world full of conflict, discord, and strife - to which we often contribute - God calls us to live our lives peaceably with those around us. We can do that because of the true peace between God and us brought about by Jesus saving work.

Sometimes we fall into self-pity and despair when we feel like we are alone with the problems we face in this world including our addiction. The prophet Elijah felt like he was all alone as the last prophet of Israel. He was wallowing in his self-pity, doubt, and despair. The LORD told Elijah he was not alone. There were 7,000 who had not given in to idolatry. What a relief that was for Elijah! Li...

Finding joy during the difficult times in our life can be next to impossible. However, we can find joy in suffering because God uses these difficult times in our lives to bring us closer to Him.

There's wisdom in seeking help and advice. It is with a humble heart and mind we ask for help. Conversely, our sinful pride refuses to ask for help. That only leads us to pain and strife with those around us. There's no shame in asking for help when recovering from an addiction. God put people into our lives for that very purpose. May we be moved to seek the advice and counsel of those with whom G...

This week's Midweek Meditation begins a series on the Fruits of the Spirit listed for us in Galatians 5:22-23. The first of the fruits listed in those verses is love. The kind of love discussed in this week's Midweek Meditation is the selfless, self-sacrificing, unconditional love God has shown to us in Christ. It is God's love for us that motivates us to show the same kind of love to one another.

King David uncovers the truth about his sin in Psalm 51. He also uncovers the truth about God's great mercy, love, and forgiveness and how God does not hold his sin against him. As recovering addicts, we have the same assurance of God's forgiveness for us in Christ.

How easy would it be to relapse when life stresses you out and you're about to hit the panic button? The Children of Israel were about to hit the panic button when they saw the Egyptians pursuing them out of Egypt. Listen to what Moses says to them and us when life stresses us out.

Speaking to others about our faith in Jesus is a natural result of our faith in Jesus. Likewise, speaking about the blessings of sobriety to another addict suffering in addiction is a natural result of achieving sobriety with God's help. As Christians who are also recovering addicts, let's take the good news of Salvation won for us in Christ and the message of the blessings of sobriety to those wh...

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 s...

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 hardsh...

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 he...

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 a...

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 sto...

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 Chri...

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.