Twelve Steps for Life!
“For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
I have lost too many friends to the “yoke of slavery” called alcohol. Yet, alcohol is just one way we humans enslave ourselves. Many enslave themselves to gambling, pornography, or even food. Anything we do that becomes detrimental to ourselves, or others brings us under the “yoke of slavery.”
I am a big believer in twelve-step programs. I have had many friends who have used twelve-step programs to guide them through their addictions. To “set us free,” we must:
1. Admit that we are powerless over________. As Christians, we must recognize that we are powerless regarding sin. Our lives are unmanageable on our own. We need God.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. As Christians, we are called to name and worship the power we call our Triune God. Trying to love on our own is insanity because it keeps us under the yoke of slavery.
3. Made the decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. This decision is crucial. Once decided, we are called to include God in every area of our lives. We remain enslaved if any part of our life is outside the twelve steps.
4. Made a searching and moral inventory of ourselves. Christians are called to put away our illusions and false impressions of ourselves. We need to recognize the hurt we have done to others and reach out to provide healing. When we seek the healing of others, our healing can take place.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Naming our wrongs is an area where most Protestant groups miss out. Roman Catholics have the blessing of the confessional booth to share their wrongs out loud and with another person. Saying it to another person makes it real and calls us to accountability.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Like the alcoholic who doesn’t want to give up drinking, we Christians must honestly desire a new way of living. We might quietly like our sinful activities and not want to give them up. Until we do, we cannot move forward with a deeper, mature faith.
7. Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings. I wish I had a dollar for every person who said, “I don’t need anybody. I can live my faith privately.” The problem with private faith is that no one can share an alternative vision or provide accountability. A person who worships alone, sooner or later, worships a god of their own making that agrees with everything they do.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. Christian people have integrity. We stand behind our actions and are ready to confess our mistakes when we make them. Our goal is for all God’s children to be happy and whole. When our sinful actions hurt another, God expects us to “make amends” so the hurt individual(s) can be whole again. This healing is for you and the other person(s).
9. Made a direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Perhaps you may have hurt someone so badly they cannot face you. If you force someone to take your apology, it becomes about you. Making a personal confession to someone must always be in their best interest.
10. Continue to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admit it. We are never done when living a faithful, moral, and responsible life. Because we are sinful by nature, we will regularly fall short and need to seek forgiveness from God and others.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. We’ve never arrived. We are continually on the journey of faith. We will always be running up and down these steps. That is what faith is all about. We must never stop. These twelve steps are a spiritual elliptical machine.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to (alcoholics), and to practice these principles in all our affairs. Please exchange “alcoholics” for “people.” Evangelism is the act of sharing the life-saving message of Jesus Christ. Recovering alcoholics have been made humble by the twelve-step program, and they know the power that came in saving their lives, and they want to give that gift to others. Likewise, Christians should have the same joy in being saved from selfish lives and should want to share the life-giving message of the gospel.
We have so much to learn and emulate from the twelve-step program. Pray the twelve steps today. Ask yourself, “What do I need to act on from these twelve steps?” “Why am I hesitant to act?” “What am I scared of?” “What continues to enslave me?” Remember, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. The only people who recognize this reality are those God blessed with divine understanding. This knowledge of our weaknesses can be our greatest strength. I pray you will have the courage to respond today!