This Week In Recovery Lesson
Ambivalence: Resistant to Repentant
If you have a Bible (or click on the provided links in blue), read Romans chapters 6-8; then read Philippians chapter 4:4-18. Finally, read from the FFMP website, the article titled, “Mourning Sickness: Resistant to Repentant”.
The Apostle Paul of the Bible said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Paul is the same guy that said, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”
What gives? One minute Paul has learned the secret of being content and the next he’s discovered that he’s miserably discontent. This issue of ‘me’dom describes the human condition that defines our experience. Both are true: our discovery that we are under the control of our self-centered ways of thinking and behaving, and, we can experience freedom from our ongoing and deepening dissatisfaction. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They asked him, “What do you mean set free? We’ve never been anyone’s slave.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” Sin is the Bible’s three-letter word for our selfish intentions and behavior. In other words, the first time we gave into the drug of self-indulgence we became addicted. The truth is that Jesus Christ wants to lift the weight of our burden since He can and will if we seek Him.
Based on what you have read…
- What would you say Paul meant when he declared that he had learned the secret of being content?
- What would you say Paul meant when he declared that he was miserable under the control of “the power” at war with his mind?
- What power is he talking about that controls his mind?
- What do you think he means when he says such a power controls him?
- Would you categorize Paul’s problem as a kind of addiction? Explain.
- Paul is a believer. What does this say about the power of addiction in the life of a believer?
- According to the truth laid out in Romans 8 and Philippians 4, what could Paul do about his problem? Or should we say, since Paul wrote these passages in his letters to the churches in Rome and Philippi, what did Paul do about his problem?
Please proceed to this week’s application challenge by clicking TWRAC 001.
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