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Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:19 While in active addiction, I disliked being around those in recovery. The problem with those who are truly living in recovery, is that joy oozes out of them, expressing itself in their behavior…
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You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit . . . John 15:16 Trapped in an addiction, many of us have found some perverse comfort in the idea that we’ve got a disease over which we have no control. If we get cancer, it’s…
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You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14 Many of us who have wrestled with addiction have some knowledge that we need God. We believe he exists, and we understand that he has some negative posture towards our destructive behavior. So, we make some attempt at faith. In our desire…
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Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 On the way into the grocery store recently, I realized I’d forgotten my coronavirus mask. I was just going to be in and out quickly though, so I proceeded bare-faced. I live in a relatively small town,…
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This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12 Recent tragic, racially charged events in my state have caused me to question my own views on race. I’m not racist, is my first thought. No one thinks their racist though. Racism, by definition, is a flawed viewpoint, and…
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If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. John 15:6 When it comes to my ingrained, habitual, self-destructive behaviors, I’ve usually required significant consequences to convince me to change. Transformation is often uncomfortable, and so, it’s…
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I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 It would be absurd if I thought recovery simply meant getting sober once and then going back to life as I’d previously…
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I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1-2 It’s been a little maddening to keep up with the daily changes that Covid-19 has…
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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 We all have different struggles. I’ve struggled with both drug addiction and anxiety. I’m not comparing addiction to anxiety. I’m just insisting that we all have different life…
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You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:17 In my addiction, I turned my back on my faith. Every time I used, I felt guilty, and so, every time I used, I asked forgiveness from God, seeking absolution for that guilt. I didn’t change or stop using though,…
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