Month: November 2017

Revelations 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline… I prefer to think of God as a kind, grandfatherly figure who would never discipline me. As I am forgiven, I like to imagine that the strings between my behavior and consequences have been cut. Jesus, in today’s passage, said otherwise though. It seems that…
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Revelations 3:17 You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. When in life have you pursued God with the most intensity? Was it during Good times or bad? I have no doubt that I have pursued God with the most…
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Revelations 3:15,16 …You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. I once had the audacity to tell God that though I wanted him in my life, I did not want to…
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Philippians 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly . . . As this passage is about the enemies of the cross (v. 18), when I read it, I immediately thought of those who have completely rejected God. The painful truth though, is that this passage applies to me as well. When I…
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Philippians 3:13,14 One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In Alcoholics Anonymous, we celebrate clean time, meaning that on the anniversary of your sobriety date, you are recognized for…
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Philippians 3:12,13 Not that I am already perfect, but I press on . . . forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. One of the most common conflicts between those in church and those in recovery, revolves around identity. Am I a Christian or an addict? The extreme position on one…
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Philippians 3:8-10 I have suffered the loss of all things . . . that I may know him . . . It is natural to be skeptical of the faith of the one in jail or treatment. An addict often becomes hyper-religious in the wreckage of his life, but the insincerity of his faith is…
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Philippians 3:7,8 Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for . . .  the surpassing worth of knowing Christ . . . I have suffered the loss of all things . . . that I may gain Christ. In my addictions to food and drugs, I told myself that I would do anything to…
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Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may . . . shine as lights in the world. When my addiction came to light, I had to leave the emergency room and for months, could not practice medicine. Appropriately, I had to go to treatment if I ever wanted to get back…
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Philippians 2:12 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling . . . God, why won’t you help me? I have asked you again and again to fix me and you remain silent. Where are you? Do you not care or am I not your child? Strangely, it was my own defects which led…
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