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Category: Faith in the Struggle

Real Friends Don’t Eat Each Other

You who hate the good and love the evil . . . who eat the flesh of my people . . . and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. Micah 3:2-3 In his destructive behavior, the addict inflicts tremendous misery, not only on himself, but on those around him.…
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Tough Love

Does the Lord become inpatient? Does he do such things? Micah 2:7 (NIV) Looking back, I can see that anytime I encountered leniency and mercy in my addiction, it didn’t motivate me to change, but rather, only encouraged my behavior. When I was first forced to address my problem, I wanted transformation, but because I suffered…
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Ax-Murderers and Other Really Bad People

Thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster. Micah 2:3 It’s become a satirical inside joke in our family. When I ask the kids if they understand why I’m concerned about some…
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Beer Church

If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people! Micah 2:11 When I went through medical training, nearly 20 years ago, we were taught to be quite liberal with opiate pain medications. Studies had supposedly…
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The Vile Song of Addiction

Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. Micah 2:1 Admittedly, I have an obsessive personality. When an idea takes hold in my mind, it’s tough to get out. When I find an activity I enjoy,…
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Naked and Ashamed

Pass on your way . . . in nakedness and shame. Micah 1:11 While on a job interview for my first real job as a physician, I realized an hour in that my zipper was down. It was awful. I couldn’t think, and I couldn’t fix it without drawing attention to it. Though fully clothed, I felt…
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Am I the Good Guy or the Bad Guy?

Behold, the Lord is coming out of his place . . . And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire . . . Micah 1:3-4 I remember once watching a movie in which the main character began to dabble in criminal activity to get himself out…
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I’m Always Right, Right?

God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” Jonah 4:9 While enslaved to our pathologic appetites, addicts are not known for thinking clearly. Reason is often overruled by preference and though there are mountains of evidence…
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Only Sorry You Got Caught

Jonah went out of the city . . . He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Jonah 4:5 You’re only sorry that you got caught. It’s been said of me and I’ve said it of others. When secret, destructive behavior becomes not-so-secret anymore, and the consequences…
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My Case Against God

“O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah 4:3 In the throes of my addiction, I became angry at God. You created me with this destructive appetite. I’ve begged you to take it…
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