Month: August 2021

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 A few years ago, we bought and remodeled an older house. When I say we remodeled it, I mean we paid to have someone else do most of the work. There were several finishing touches that we took on…
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Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 Corinthians 6:1 Though I may not have realized or admitted I was doing it, in my addiction, I became practiced at manipulating others to do my will. I’m a pretty nice guy, so I used my…
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For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Most of us who’ve struggled with drugs or alcohol are familiar with self-loathing. As we’ve sunk deeper into the depths of our addiction, we’ve lost control, surrendering to…
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Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 In the height of my addiction, as I ran out of avenues to get my pills, I turned to the power of my own pen to get them. When…
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In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19 A couple years after my son’s seventh grade school year, his teacher told me a story about him. My son – who gave me permission to tell this story…
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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Looking back, I can see that before I got married, I was already developing a substance use disorder. I thought however, that when I got married I would just grow out…
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From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5:16 In treatment for chemical dependency, the one who’s struggled with addiction will often return to his faith, appropriately finding forgiveness in God. Then, because he feels that God has forgiven him, he expects that others should forgive him as well.…
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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 In the throes of…
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We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.  2 Corinthians 5:12 Though I wasn’t raised in Minnesota, I’ve lived here for nearly 20 years and…
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Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. 2 Corinthians 5:11 I’ve been waffling on today’s blog entry. I usually stick to addiction/recovery topics and rarely wade into politics or current events. As I was pondering today’s passage however, I just kept coming back to the pandemic, vaccines, and mandates. In today’s passage,…
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