Not "Hitting Bottom" -- But Getting to the Bottom of Things

"Hitting Bottom" is a classic phrase which floats around in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Basically, men and women will not be ready for the Twelve Steps until they "Hit Bottom", until they realize that their alcoholic condition is hopeless, that they cannot drink without drinking to excess.

The only problem with this concept, however, is actually an immense problem.

What is "the bottom" for most people? The nature of the term is nebulous at best, dangerous at its worst. There are drunken bums in the street who have not "hit bottom", in that they keep running to the alcohol, since they have nothing else to run to.

There are the recurrent "slippers", the men and women who go into AA meetings, and frequently drink again, only to return so that they can have their "thirty day" chip, or otherwise. They do not seem to have a bottom, at all.

Then there are the growing number of men and women who stop drinking because they do not want to drink excessively, anymore. They did not hit a bottom of "incomprehensible demoralization", as the "Big Book" suggests.

In truth, the fallen flesh of man can never be fixed, can never end.

Paul's struggle with sin and the law illustrates the nature of the conflict for any other perversion:

"14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." (Romans 7: 14-20)

Then Paul exclaims:

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

This cry springs from a hopeless fight, one which he, or any other man, can never hope to win.

"I want to do X, but I end up doing Y. Why?" describes the gist of this painful struggle in the mind and flesh of fallen man. So goes the same ups and downs of every person who wants to break free of drink on his own, through his own resolve:

"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15: 56).

When man compells even himself to do something, he will oftentimes engender the very opposite effect. The nature of man, dead in his trespasses, will not permit him to live up to any standard or code of conduct which he develops or envelopes. He must either submit to allowing the life of Christ Jesus to live through Him, or continue to struggle against the shame and condemnation of frustration and failure endemic to man's flesh.

The more that people realize the truth of their condition, not merely as alcoholics, but creatures of God who are dead in their trespasses, then the greater their freedom to break away from sin by embracing the new life, based on righteousness and grace, which people receive through Christ:

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," (Romans 8: 1)

None, not one bit. Why is that? Paul explains in a previous chapter:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 14)

The grace of God, the unmerited favor which flows from God to all men, teaches us to say "No!" to sin, and "Yes!" to living godly lives in righteousness (Titus 2:11-12).

Not rules and regulations, not steps and self-imposed codes of conduct, but God's grace moves us and makes us sons of light:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

Instead of "hitting bottom", men and women need to invest in getting to the bottom of things, that the grace of God moves in men through His Spirit, and this truth sets us free:

"31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 31-32)

Not "hitting bottom", but getting to the bottom of things, getting to the truth of the matter, that sets people free.