Delusion of Self-Sufficency

"Reflections from Recovery"
Sam's thoughts on "I" continue here:

Written by "Sam" 10/26
The spiritual part of our disease is self-centeredness .

What is self-centeredness ?

It is the belief that the world revolves around me.  My wishes, my demands - are the only ones worth consideration.  Our self-centered minds believe they are capable of getting everything they want if only they would be left to their own devices.We say that self-centeredness is the spiritual part of the disease because the self-centered mind cannot conceive of anything greater than or more important that itself.  But there is a spiritual solution to our spiritual disease.

We strip away our delusion of self-sufficiency by surrendering to a Higher Power greater than ourselves.  We admit we have been wrong, make amends, and seek knowledge of what's right from the God of our understanding.  We seek to serve others and not ourselves.

The goal is to become more God-centered and less self-centered.


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Breaking the Habit

So, you're addicted to going to church too?

Let me tell you, there is hope, and you are not alone.

God gets angry with empty ritual and meaningless tradition.  Read Isaiah.  Read the stories of Jesus confronting the Pharisees.  They had replaced their faith in God with regulations.  The Ten Commandments were never about keeping the "rules"...they were about putting God first!  That is the first commandment!

"You shall have no other gods before me."

(PS - I'm not advocating not following the 10 Commandments...just change the perspective of why we follow them.)

It is so easy to replace knowing God with knowing about God.  And that is a danger of just "going to church." A person can go to church their whole life and never know God.  They can know plenty about him.  They could even quote scripture like nobody's business.  The Pharisees were pretty good at that stuff too.  Then you get someone like the centurion with the sick servant.  This guy is a Roman soldier.  But he sees and recognizes the authority in Jesus.  Did Jesus turn him away because he was not a devout follower of the law?  No.  Look at what Jesus said, (it is really mind blowing if you think about it.)

I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.

You know the craziest part about this?  The guy didn't even come himself.  He sent people to Jesus.  And when Jesus was coming to heal the guys sick servant...more friends come and tell Jesus that the centurion didn't feel worthy enough to have Jesus come under his roof.

Man that is hitting home to me right now.  Really hard.

How often have I walked into "church" thinking I belong.  That this was my place.  That is the attitude of an addict.  I have the right to be here.  Who are you to tell me different?

Church is not a place to go.  It is people to be with.  It is the body, the whole body, of Jesus.

The body won't grow if it sits around.  Well, it might get fat, but it won't grow.  It won't become healthy and strong.  The Church isn't supposed to be sedentary.  Jesus told his disciples to, "Go."  But they didn't.  Not at first.  Then difficulty struck, and they scattered...and so did the Word.

My friends, it is high time we get out of our pews, couches, folding chairs, or whatever you sit on in your regular gatherings.  A farmer can't harvest a crop if he just sits in his barn and doesn't plant the seeds.  Neither can we prepare the harvest for Jesus if we just sit in our storehouses. 

Break the habit.  Church is good.  Christ is better.  Show Jesus to the world around you.  Don't hide your love for him behind the stained glass windows of a church or the fish bumper sticker on your car.  Let's stop just going to church and let us be the Church.

See you out there.

grace, peace + hope

-Jesse

Addicted

Addiction is a tyrannical master.  If addiction is a thousand page book, I've read the dust jacket, and maybe opened the cover.  I'm not an expert.  But I can tell you that addictive behaviour is destructive behaviour.

Let me tell you nothing good comes from any form of addiction.  Whether it is eating, sex, drugs, drinking, gambling, cutting, hoarding, American Idol...addiction is bad.  The verse below is not specifically about addiction, but many of the actions listed can be addictive.  (1 Peter 4)

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

So these are things to be avoided.  A few words later Peter writes, "be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray."  Clear mind and self-controlled.  Not addicted.

Okay so we have established that addiction is bad.  (You know I was kidding about American Idol right?)  Well, sort of.  But there is an addiction that most Christians have.  I know I have struggled with this particular addiction for a few years now.

Going to church.

Yeah.  I said it.  Going to "church" can be an addiction.  And I'm not splitting hairs on what type of institution.  The denomination, size of congregation, size of building-facility or home, what you wear, what the leaders wear...none of that matters.  The addiction lies in you and me.  We get comfortable.  It's nice to come to a place, "where everybody knows your name..."

Come on, you can admit it.  I know it's true for me.  If I was to be 100% honest I could not say that every time I've gone to church was because I wanted to worship God.  Sometimes it was an obligation.  Sometimes it was a source of pride.  Sometimes I just wanted to see friends.  Sometimes it was the only thing to do.

Then there were the days I went because I needed to feel that spiritual high.  I didn't really want the Spirit to convict me, but I wanted to get on the worship roller coaster and feel like I had been moved.  Those days I really focused on the music, the way it made me feel, how well the worship team sang.  Could it transport me out of the mundane.  I was there for selfish reasons.  It wasn't every time I went, but it was frequent.

I was addicted to going to church.

And there can be many reasons for it.  For me it was the spiritual high and needing to keep busy.  For others it could be guilt.  Or pride.  The sense of belonging.  There are as many reasons as there are church goers.

But going to "church," be it in a huge facility or a grass hut is only a fraction of what we should be doing as disciples of Jesus.  Going to church is not a bad thing.  Being addicted to it is.
 

Tomorrow:  Breaking the Habit

grace, peace + hope-Jesse