Blog

Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:25 While enslaved to my addiction, I wanted out. I knew I’d be much happier if I found sobriety, but I also knew that the cost of sobriety was higher than I was willing to…
Read more

Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Matthew 16:23 In the disastrous consequences of my addiction, I thought my career as a physician was over. There were those though, who insisted it wasn’t. One such…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more