Unconditional Love

Bible reading: 1 John 4:7 – 10

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

Real love bring security into our lives. For many of us, feelings of insecurity contribute to the power of our addictions. Trusting that love can bring lasting security is hard for those of us who’ve been abandoned. Maybe someone we love betrayed our trust. Perhaps someone turned away from us when we betrayed theirs. It could be that someone we needed died, permanently leaving us.

Jesus promised, “I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm – I will come to you” (John 14:18). We may ask, “How can I trust in God’s love when it feels like all I’ve ever known is a love that disappoints?” Here’s the difference: Jesus is the only one who entered our lives through the “one-way” door of death. God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death. In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God, but His love for us when He sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins” (1 John 4:9 – 10).  The psalmist wrote, “For He [God] knows we are but dust, and that our days are few and brief.  But the loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence Him.” (Psalms 103:14-17).

God’s love is unconditional and always waiting for us.  Turning our lives over to God involves opening the door of our hearts to His love.  Filling up on God’s love helps us to avoid relapse.  It meets us at our deepest needs and eases our most powerful insecurities.

As we give our lives over to God’s care, He brings healing and love to our hurts and pains.

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The Key Is Willingness

Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.

The willingness to give up my pride and self – will to Jesus Christ, the One and only Higher Power that is greater than myself has proved to be the only ingredient absolutely necessary to solve all of my problems today.  Even the smallest amount of willingness, if sincere, is sufficient to allow God to enter and take control over any problem, pain, or obsession. My level of comfort is in direct relation to the degree of willingness I possess at any given moment to give up my self – will, and allow God’s will to be manifested in my life. With the key of willingness, my worries and fears are powerfully transformed into serenity.

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Promised Joy

Bible Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-6

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

Life is rough.  We must constantly struggle against the sin inherent in our mortal bodies.  We live with the realities of pain, sickness, and death.  We live in a world that is constantly decaying.  Even if we turn our lives over to God, what is there to look forward to?

Peter tells us, “Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead.  And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you. …And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it, because you are trusting Him.  It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see.  So be truly glad!  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here” (1 Peter 1:3-6)

Paul encourages us with this, “And since we are His children, we will share His treasures-for all God gives to His Son Jesus is now ours, too.  But, if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.  Yet what we suffer now, is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later.  For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect His Children.  For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay- the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command-will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy” (Romans 8:17-21).  These promises are for us!

Our trust in God’s work on our behalf allows us to live in hope and joy.

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The Idea Of Faith

Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.

The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me. Sometimes just the idea of doing something different, something I am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without debating whether it’s the right thing to do. When a bad day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting or a talk with another addict often distracts me just enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as impossible, or as overwhelming as I had thought. In the same way, going to a Celebrate Recovery meeting or talking to a fellow addict are acts of faith: I believe I’m arresting my disease. These are ways I slowly move toward faith in Jesus Christ, my one and only Higher Power.

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