by ProfDave, ©2021
(Aug. 23, 2021) — Recovery folks are the only people who really know what freedom is. Because they have truly understood their slavery.
What is freedom? For the secularists it is unrestricted expression of their nature – without answering to anyone but themselves. Be yourself. Do it your way. Let it all hang out. Then we find ourselves trapped as our bodies, emotions and spirits become enslaved to addictions and compulsive behaviors.
Christians believe that mankind and all nature were once entirely good and harmonious by nature – totally free. But humanity used that freedom to break that harmony. We still do. Ever since there has been a fundamental flaw in our nature that has somehow infected the whole cosmos. So that when we “do it our way” it is usually wrong and when we “let it all hang out” it is ugly. We are broken people living in a broken world and our nature is our slavery. We are most free when we choose to live by the Spirit of God, not by our broken nature. Then it is that a Power beyond ourselves breaks our chains.
Step Two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Philippians 2:13: For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
In Step One, we come out of our denial and admit we have problems we can’t fix by ourselves. If you stop there, it is a pretty sorry condition! But Step Two is the hope step. If you look around and listen to the sharing and testimonies at a good recovery meeting, you will see happy recoverers and hear miracle stories from people much like you. “It works if you work it, so work it you’re worth it!”
They have hope because they believe. And because they believe, they will eventually see. Not believing in the tooth fairy, mind you, but in realities they cannot see. You flip a switch in a darkened room, not because you can see the electricity running through the switch to the light bulb, but because you believe the switch works. Of course it matters what you believe in – that switch might be the garbage disposal, not the light.
The “Power greater than ourselves” is the secret engine of the 12 Steps. Everything depends on how powerful that Higher Power is. If the power is only imaginary, then the system, the peer encouragement, and positive thinking can help but you have to do all the heavy lifting. And your own good intentions and self discipline got you into the pit where you were to begin with.
For anything serious, you need a real Higher Power – capable to performing miracles in your life. In Celebrate Recovery® we name Him: Jesus Christ. And believing “[God] is and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” we have all the hope in the world. That’s why it’s called the Gospel – Good News! I can do absolutely nothing. God can do absolutely anything.
But why would a holy Creator God have anything to do with a hot mess like me? That’s where Jesus Christ comes in. “[God]who spared not His only Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also give us all things necessary for life and godliness?” Are you not godly? He isn’t done with you yet! “God was in Christ” nailed on a cross, risen from a grave, “reconciling the world [you] to Himself.” The Almighty is in the business of recovery! Recovery runs on miracles. I am a living miracle and I meet with other living miracles every week!
The genius of AA’s 12 Steps is that it goes beyond self-help to draw on the supernatural. You may not consider yourself certifiable, but if you keep trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results – quitting again and again, relationship after relationship or diet after diet. Are you sliding down the same slope into the same pit? Are you stuck in the same cycle of pain, escape, shame and pain again? Is all that sane?
If you could have done it all by yourself, you would have long ago. You need help. But Oh joy! There is help! Someone who is, who cares, and is able to transform you from darkness to light. Believing in Someone who knows all about you and loves you just the same – One who has the rest of your life in view and a plan to bring you home in condition to be His companion for eternity. That’s what I call hope!
Principle two of Rick Warren’s “Eight Principles” fleshes out what it means to believe in a real Higher Power: “Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.” Matthew 5:4: Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
“That I matter to Him” is the distinctive contribution of Christianity to recovery. Most gods lay down strict ethical or ceremonial standards adherents must meet in order to gain their favor. They have only malice for those who do not measure up. The Law of Moses and the Shari’a of Islam are often taken in that sense. But Jesus revealed to us a different vision of God. We matter to Him. He is a Savior as well as a judge. The law of God shows us how sick we are, but the cross shows us how much God wants to heal us. And the empty tomb shows that He can!
Recognizing our alienation from God is the only preparation we need for Christianity. You don’t have to know or understand everything, but believing in who Jesus is, the cross and the empty tomb is the threshold. Believing in this one true Higher Power, whose arms are open wide for you, puts you in position to step through the door into the very Kingdom of God! No matter how far gone you may be, there is hope.
David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College. He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020). He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.