Author: Scott

Man shall not live by bread alone. Luke 4:4 The life of addiction is a hollow one. In it, we set out pursuing our desires, but it’s the nature of our self-destructive appetite to enslave us. The thing we once controlled for our own pleasure, eventually controls us. As we surrender to it, we abandon…
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Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” Luke 3:14 Most diets eventually fail. It’s not the diet’s fault. Most diets actually work quite well if we adhere to them…
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Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. Luke 3:8 Though I ignored my conscience and dulled it by repeatedly abusing it in my addiction, I still had one. Whenever my secret, destructive behavior was dragged into the light, my sense of remorse came alive. I’d feel terrible as I was forced to look at what I’d…
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Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mark 14:38 When I first attempted recovery years ago, I just knew I was done with addiction and that I’d never go back. I relapsed several times. What happened? It wasn’t that I lacked good…
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Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Mark 14:36 While in treatment for chemical dependency, I had a tremendous amount of time to work on my life problems. It was good for me, but in my exuberance to clean house, I got a little overconfident. For the first…
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He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” Mark 14:33-34 Whenever I struggle with something – particularly if I fail – my first instinct is certainly not to share…
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Be on guard, keep awake. Mark 13:33 I didn’t fall all at once into drug addiction. Rather, my descent into madness was a slow one, requiring one small bad decision after another, for years. When disaster finally struck and my day of reckoning arrived, I looked around and said, “How did I get here?” At…
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They will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. Mark 13:9 In our addictions, most of us eventually cause ourselves tremendous misery. Pursuing destructive behavior inevitably leads to destructive consequences. Often, it’s only when…
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This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:43 It’s easy, while visiting jail, to look down on those whose disastrous behavior seems worse than mine. Maybe I had a little problem with addiction, but at least I’ve never gone to prison. It’s easy to…
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. . . To love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:33 In the painful consequences of my addiction, I came to know tremendous situational anxiety as my future was so uncertain. My marriage was a mess. My career hung in the balance. I was unsure…
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