You can cling to an ideology or you can embrace a religion or,
you can experience resurrection into the new life God intends for you.
Jesus Christ came to earth to identify with the human experience, to die as a sacrifice for our self-centered MEdom problem. Nailed to the cross with Jesus was every mistake we ever committed. Jesus was wounded severely with gaping wounds wide open as he bled and died. With his wounds untreated, Jesus was buried in the grave, his body broken, entombed by man’s sin. For three days, the Bible says, the soul of the Sympathetic Savior bore the anguish of all of our guilt and shame.
But then something happened. The wounded soul and body of Jesus was healed and restored; resurrected into new life. When Jesus showed himself to his friends and family, they struggled to believe it. So as proof, Jesus showed them his scars. Now his wounds were healed. Scars are healed wounds, evidence of something that was at one time extremely painful. The evidence of your past is plain to see in your scars but your wounds are healed because of Christ’s suffering. By his scars you are healed and restored, though you may struggle to believe it. The memories of your past need not own you.
Jesus Christ was resurrected into new life, and today as God has authority over anything and everything you’re dealing with. He desires to resurrect you into new life. He has given you the choice, however. You can remain stuck in the status quo of the way things are; or, you can get out of your own way and surrender by moving out from that darkened tomb of discontent into the light of freedom through recovery God’s way. He will light the way. He will raise you up from out of your tomb of selfish entitlement and into a life of freedom from shame into the new life experience full of joy in the peace of His rest. God uses others in recovery to lead you out of your grave clothes into the opportunity for fellowship in the community of the living.
Jesus said, “Lose him and set him free.” John 11:44
FFMP’s emphasis is the first three of the twelve steps. The core principles lighting the road to recovery God’s way are as follows:
A. Admit that the way you manage life in your world is not working and that you are in effect powerless (without authority) to change it on your own.
B. Believe that God is in complete authority and that He can and will empower you to a better life.
C. Commit your life (thoughts, feelings, and actions) entirely into God’s care, as you come to believe and have confidence in Him.
“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NLT)
Continue Reading: Sympathetic Savior… Role Model for Recovery
