Month: July 2019

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:15-16 I ice fished once as a child, but when we first moved to Minnesota, I realized how serious ice fishing really was. It’s hard to believe in July, but…
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The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. Matthew 16:1 Addiction is an inevitable symptom of a life spent in pursuit of self. When I live for me, doing what I want, I follow whatever self-destructive behaviors I’m prone to, and eventually, I engage compulsively…
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Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd? Matthew 15:33 One of the most maddening things about addiction is that the addict returns repeatedly to behavior he knows to be destructive. This is the definition of addiction – to repeatedly engage in an act despite…
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Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them . . . Matthew 15:30 As my children have grown older, we have more drivers, which means we have more vehicles, which means we need more…
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His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” Matthew 15:23 I generally think of myself as a pretty good guy. I try to help those struggling with addiction and I visit jail for a Bible Study/Recovery Meeting once a week. I must admit that it made…
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Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Matthew 15:19 In the painful consequences of my addiction, I needed to know where my recurrent self-destructive behavior came from. One extreme view told me that I simply made sinful choices. All I needed to do was to turn to…
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Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered . . . “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Matthew 15:12-14 One of my (many) ongoing flaws is that…
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This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Matthew 15:8 In our diseased behavior, most addicts struggle with honesty and integrity. We believe drug abuse/dependency is evil, but we still, we wallow in it. In our addiction, most of us are hypocrites. Today’s passage about hypocrisy then, hits close…
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They sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. Matthew 14:35-36 While mired in the misery of my addiction, part of me desperately wanted recovery. I truly believed…
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O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Matthew 14:31 The mishap I wrote of yesterday with my boatlift was hardly an isolated event of stupidity. The same boatlift once had another malfunction – it had some problems – and so, I tied the boat next to the lift, letting it float nearby while I…
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