Month: February 2020

Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Luke 22:40 My addiction began when I first had an impulsive desire to indulge in a pleasurable but destructive behavior. I knew this behavior would bring immediate gratification and though I didn’t completely understand the long-term ramifications, I also knew it wasn’t right. This is temptation –…
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I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me. Luke 22:34 In my addiction, I felt constant shame. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn’t stop. This caused me to live in a state of constant conflict with myself. My…
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I am among you as the one who serves. Luke 22:27 As I was meditating on today’s passage yesterday, I had a painful memory pop up. I was probably in fifth or sixth grade when, with a bunch of my peers, I attempted to elevate my own status by verbally bullying a younger boy. It…
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This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Luke 22:19 Unfortunately, I’ve put on a few pounds over the last couple of months. It’s not that I’ve gotten lazy. I still exercise most days of the week. My problem is all in what I eat. Holiday indulgences have…
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Stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36 In my addiction, I continually hoped and prayed for the day when my appetite for the pill would just magically evaporate. I knew…
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Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. Luke 22:3 Looking back at all my self-destructive choices, those behaviors now look like temporary insanity. What is so clearly a bad decision in retrospect, seemed like such a good idea at the time. What happens that makes evil seem…
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They will receive the greater condemnation. Luke 20:47 If I asked you to describe my greatest failure in life, my drug addiction would no doubt come to mind. Nothing else I’ve ever done has caused me to wreck my family life, lose my job, or put me in treatment. In the calamity, I felt like…
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He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. Luke 20:38 I grew up in an evangelical church, which places a heavy emphasis on witnessing. So, on a mountain hike years ago, I met another trekker with whom I felt compelled to share my faith. I think I…
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Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Luke 20:25 Growing up, I just knew that all Christians belonged to the same political party to which my parents belonged. I knew that no one in the other political party could really follow Christ. One side was synonymous…
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But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. Luke 21:34 Whenever I have a chance to talk to someone who has relapsed and is now returning to recovery, I ask if they’re willing to tell…
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