Step 11 – The Purpose of Life

Step 11: We 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.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37

Most of us in recovery came to know God as we do now because of our great need. We pursued God initially, not because we simply wanted to know him. We came to him because we were a mess and we believed that he could do something for us. We usually seek God only when we need something.

It’s not wrong to go to God in our need. He knows that we do this for it is he who made us. Since the fall, he has allowed us to be born with inherent flaws which create need in our lives. It is our need that drives us to seek him and it is our need that he uses to draw us to him.

At some point in our recovery though, we begin to see the reason for our need and for our sobriety. The purpose of life becomes clearer to us as we grow in our faith. We were created to be loved by God and to return that love to him. Today’s passage reveals that he longs to live in an intimate, tangible relationship with us. Sobriety is a good thing, but it is not the point of it all. We can be sober and still live in misery. It is only in abandoning ourselves, loving God, and following his will that we come to know the life, joy, and peace that he intends for us.

How may we know God better? We come to know God the way we come to know anyone – we spend time with him. We read the Bible, we meditate, we talk to God, and we listen to him. We can learn to do this throughout the day, but it has helped me tremendously to learn the discipline of getting up early each day to read, pray, and meditate. It is only in spending time with God that we may know and love him more.

Step eleven isn’t just for the addict. This is the purpose of life, to continually grow in our love for God, following his will more every day.