Freed From the Bondage of Self. . .Through Christ

We were now at Step Three. Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: "God, I offer myself to Thee-to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always! (AA, pg. 63)

In Christ, we are already relieved of the bondage of self:

"1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 2: 1-2)

and

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)

and

"3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 3-4)

Yet the "Big Book" tells members to keep looking at themselves:

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. (AA, pg. 86)

All of these questions about ourselves point us back to ourselves. If "self" is the big problem, than analyzing "self" will not make "self" any better.

No wonder people in AA meetings either become Pharisees of failures!

We do not, cannot make ourselves better. Our fallen nature, "the flesh", "the heart of darkness", or "the broken character of man cannot be fixed with a rinse and resolve to "keep short accounts":

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7: 24)

As Paul declared, we need to be delivered entirely from this "body of death", and using the same body of death to try and create life is not just impossible, but immoral and inimical to breaking free of any addiction, or any perversion, or any wrongdoing.

God promises to give us a new heart (which means a new life, a new identity):

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36: 26)

In this new heart, we receive a new "self", Jesus Christ:

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1: 27)

Paul's one prayer was that we would receive a greater revelation of God's love for us in Christ:

"16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 16-19)

We are freed from the bondage of self not by focusing on ourselves to make ourselves better, but we receive Himself, Jesus Christ, who gives us life and that more abundantly (John 10: 10), and this new life through His Spirit guides us from faith to faith ( Romans 1: 17) and transforms us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
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