Desperate Joy

  Recovery from addiction is one of the fiercest battles that we can engage in. The battle is waged on two primary fronts: the heart and the mind. If we are going to live in sobriety we have to learn to think in new and healthy ways. We have to undo the old ways of thinking and learn new ways of thinking. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2) If we are going to be transformed so that we are no longer slaves to addiction, we need to have our minds renewed. In the previous post I told how I would use Scripture as a weapon to help fight off the intrusive, lustful thoughts that often came with the addiction. This has continued to be a great tool in my ongoing efforts to combat the addiction. Throughout Scripture we are encouraged to meditate on Scripture and memorization is a key part of that. Even while I was quoting Scripture, many...

  Recovery is a journey of transformation. It changes not just our habits and behaviors, but our attitudes and beliefs. Above all, recovery transforms our minds. Recovery rewires the way we think. This mental transformation is a central theme in the New Testament as well. When we come into relationship with Christ, he begins to change us from the inside out. Paul wrote about this in Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." God is calling us to leave behind the ways of this world, our sins and addictions, and the old patterns of thinking and believing, and have our minds made new. This process begins with surrender. We cannot change if we continue to operate in pride an...

  Addiction is a powerful, wily thing. It promises to alleviate our pain and shame, but in the end only digs more deeply into our wounds and buries us under a heavier load of shame. One of the most effective antidotes to these problems is the practice of rigorous honesty. The book of Proverbs in the Bible gives us this instruction, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13) For a long time, I was really good at keeping my sins covered. I kept all the ugly parts of myself hidden. I had a double life. Everybody knew me as the upstanding Christian guy, the Christian school teacher, the preacher, the assistant pastor. I was as virtuous and pious as they come. But there was a monster lurking in the basement of my soul. I had to keep that sin and addiction hidden at all costs. I was certain that if I exposed that monster to anybody I would be hated, rejected despised. I had to keep that sin secret, a...

  Over the last couple posts we have been discussing fasting and its importance in our recovery and spirituality. It is an often-neglected discipline, but it is a useful and powerful practice in growing our relationship with God. My first adventures in fasting were as an older teenager when I was in college. We were very much zealous for the ministry, and I wanted God to bless my efforts there. During my early attempts at fasting, I found it was nearly impossible to even go twenty-four hours. But I kept working at it and soon enough I had fasted up to three days. In recent years I have been able to do a seven day fast, which is the longest I have done. All that to say that fasting is extremely difficult at first, but the more we practice it, the easier it gets. Though it never really gets easy. The leading cause of death in America is heart disease, and the majority of heart diseases are related to issues with weight. In America, we eat too much, and eat too much junk, and it i...