My Painful Realization

Wouldn't it be great to start a support group (like alcholoic's anonymous) and entitle it "Self-a-holic's Anonymous."

We might start by saying, Hi. I'm ___________, and I'm a "SELF-a-holic."

What does a Self-a-holic look like?

Well for me...I see traces of it in the grocery line, when someone has 45 items in the less than 20 item lane. When my kids interrupt my thoughts with "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy." Or, when friends never seem to notice that I need occasional encouragement too." Then there's my neighbors, whose parties interrupt my good-night's sleep...the audacity--and never give a second thought to the condition of their soul!

Self. SELF. SELF! In Genesis 4:7, God warns Cain, "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (NIV)

Friend, today, I don't want to be mastered by "SELF." I want to LIVE for GOD. Take up my cross and follow where He leads. Prefer the NEEDS of others over my own. Extend GOD'S love. Demonstrate HIS MERCY (in my family, my workplace, my life)!

As I researched AA'sTwelve Step process this morning, I patterned similar steps that may help us resist our addiction to "SELF."

1. Admit our powerlessness. Romans 5:6-8, "..when we were still powerless...God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NIV)
2. Believe God can restore. 1 Peter 5:10-11, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." (NIV)
3. Make a decision to turn our will and life over to God. Matthew 16:24-25, "...If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (NIV)
4. Take an inventory of our tendency to protect, provide, and cater to "self." James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (NIV)
5. Admit to God, ourselves, and other the nature of our wrongs. James 5:16, "...confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (NIV)
6. Be completely surrendered to allow God to remove our tendency of "self." Joshua 24:15, "...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..." (NIV)
7. Humbly ask God to remove our sins. Matthew 6:9-13, "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
   13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" (NIV)
8. Be reconciled with others. Matt 5:23-24, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." (NIV)
9. Ask for God's wisdom to make amends whenever possible without causing further injury. James 1:5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." (NIV)
10. Continue to examine our life and when we fail ask for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (NIV)
11. Seek an intimate relationship with God. Pursue Him with all you've got. Jeremeiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (NIV)
12. Finally, carry the hope of Christ to others. 2 Corinthians 4:5, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." (NIV)

Friends, will you join me today, taking up our cross, promoting JESUS, and serving others?

Today, I encourage you to join me with this final word of encouragement and call to ministry:

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (NIV)

(You can see AA's 12 step list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Step_Program)