Step Three Made No Sense -- Christ Makes all the Difference

 "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over the care of God as we understood Him."

 

When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.

 

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!" We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.

 

We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend or spiritual adviser. But it is better to meet God alone than with one who might misunderstand. The wording was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it without reservation. This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once. (AA. pg 63)

 

This passage of AA was one of the most frustrating.

 

What does it mean to "turn your will and life over to someone?"

 

How does one turn one's will and life over to some "God" as we understand Him?

 

The "god" of our understanding pretty soon breaks down into once again depending on ourselves.

 

What kind of life is that?

 

What kind of God is that?

 

God has done all the moving for us.

 

While we were still sinners, He gave His Son the propitiation of all our sins! (Romans 5: 8)

 

God did everything for us in sending His Son, who became nothing, that in Christ we may something, that is, seated in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesian 2: 6)

He works within us to will and to do for His good pleasure, as well (Philippians 2:12-13)

He leads us from within by His Spirit, writing His laws in our hearts and our minds (Hebrews 8: 10-12)

This was the kind of life I had been hoping for. This life is a Person, Jesus Christ (John 14: 6)

Jesus is not a god as I understand Him.

I cannot make Him up! I cannot make this up!

Step Three makes no sense. Christ, not just "god", makes all the difference.

WINNING! Charlie Sheen is Right -- AA Sucks!

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/03/news/la-heb-sheen-aa-20110302

"AA Doesn't Work" -- WINNING!

Hilarious but true.

During his public melt-down in 2011, friends and supports told Charlie Sheen to seek help, to go to AA.

Charlie refused to go to AA.

He countered that the program has a 95% failure rate.

His take on AA is right on.

That's what I call -- WINNING!

AA is a SCAM --- So Arrogant and Flagrant

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 7-10)

AA places demands on people, yet at the same time, the program immobilizes its members by forcing them to label themselves "alcoholics." What's the first thing that an "alcoholic" will do? Drink! Yet at the same time, the same cult then claims "progress not perfection".

Imagine.

First, tell people that they lack something or that they do not measure up in some way.

Then tell them to follow certain steps in order to rise from failure to success.

However, in the midst of working the steps, in the midst of following the instructions, the person "working the program" is getting worked over by the program.

When schools label students "special ed", they enroll the children in programs with people with the same "label", and the collective of attitudes and personalities, warped by a limited understanding of themselves, merely reinforces the ugly, limiting label.

AA is a wicked cult, an evil scam which teaches people to feel sorry for themselves, when the "self" which they identify with is in itself false.

Identify with a failing, then tell people to "do twelve steps" to keep "the failing" at bay.

What an evil cult this is!

Alcoholism is not a disease.

Alcoholism does not get worse just because a man has a drink.

The greater perversion in man's flesh is sin, condemnation, and the guilt and death which works within the members of men.

Jesus Christ came to redeem man from the curse of sin and death. He offers to men not just a life free from guilt, but a new life in Himself.

This is no scam, as the Word of God is based on testimony, historical evidence, records, research, and the reality found in archeological and historical records outside of the Bible.

"In the Beginning" could not make it more simple or obvious, either.

Jesus said: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14: 6)

Either you believe it or you do not believe it.

No scam, Jesus is all give, that through Him you may receive and give to others.

AA is a scam. Jesus is all give.

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 7-10)

AA Instills an (Impossible) Sense of Demand -- Jesus is All Supply

Suppose we fall short of the chosen ideal and stumble? Does this mean we are going to get drunk? Some people tell us so. But this is only a half-truth. It depends on us and on our motives. If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. We are not theorizing. These are facts out of our experience. (AA, pg 70)

No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. (AA, pg 84)

 

Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action. (AA, pg 85)

 

It works - it really does.

 

We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.

 

But this is not all. There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead." The next chapter is entirely devoted to Step Twelve. (AA, pg 88)

 

The whole AA program is based on what we must do, what we need to accomplish, the steps which we need to take.

 

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, pg 85)

 

Nothing but a "daily reprieve" divides a man from drinking again.

 

The intense pressure which this places on a person just defies description. It's absolutely crazy!

 

Jesus Christ is all supply:

 

"10But 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)

 

Also

 

20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. " (Galatians 2: 20-21)

 

He has granted us unsearchable riches:

 

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6)

 

Philippians is nothing but wonderful testimony of all that Jesus is and does for us:

 

"12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. " (Philippians 2: 12-13)

 

then

 

"13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)

 

and then

 

"19But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4: 19)

 

Who we are has everything to do with who Jesus is and what He has done for us:

 

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)

 

and then

 

"17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)

 

AA places demands on people, yet at the same time, the program immobilizes its members by forcing them to label themselves "alcoholics." What's the first thing that an "alcoholic" will do? Drink! Yet at the same time, the same cult then claims "progress not perfection".

 

AA is as shameless, as brazen a cult as ever was promulgated.

 

Jesus is "The Way, the Truth, and The Life" (John 14: 6). Never did He expect anyone to take His word:

 

"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. 12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14: 1-12)

 

 

What I Have Learned About the New Covenant

I wanted to share something that I had just learned in the past few days.

I know what has been a problem for me in the last few days.

As long as I choose not to forgive anyone in my life, even my parents, to that extent I will frustrate God's grace in my life.

It is reprehensible for anyone to tell anyone else that they have to "forgive", let go of what other people have done to us.

We have to have a sense that the wrongs have been paid for, the wrongs which we have endured.

For me, I am seeing how Jesus has paid for everything. Everything in my life. 

Not only that, but I realize that as I face indecision in my life, I would start getting frustrated, then I would get angry all over again with Pam and Sandy, slamming them for not raising me right.

I do not want to wait any longer for my life to grow. I do not want to keep blaming my parents because they did not do their job. Jesus Christ offers so much more to me and to every person who will allow Him to "rest" them (Matthew 11: 28).

He lives in me, and that is so cool.
He is the life that we were looking for. We were not taught this wonderful truth. Instead, we were leveled with rules and regulations and rigidity.

Every time that I would get angry, or get upset, or get frustrated with the past or the perversions of other people, I would get scared, because then I feared that my "feelings" had cut me off from God, or that I had lost touch with what I am supposed to be doing.

Yet who I am in Christ has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Him:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
Why does He remember our sins no more? Because they were punished in the Body of His Son Jesus:

"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)

To this day, at this very moment, Jesus serves as your High Priest (Hebrewas 6: 20), and He also serves as our mercy seat (1 John 2: 2), in which He forever wipes away our sin (1 John 1: 7, the blood cleanseth)

AA Makes You Dependent on Man -- Be Dependent on God's Holy Spirit

"5Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17: 5)

The Bible is crystal clear on this matter -- we are under a curse as long as we seek the wisdom of the world, the counsel of the ungodly.

Such folly includes the Twelve Steps, and the concept of sponsorship.

What can man share with any one of us that the Holy Spirit cannot tell you?

Every Christian, every child of God, has the Holy Spirit living within Him.

For a long time, I was told what to do. I lived in an environment in which people close to me pretended to be the voice of God, and that anything which I attempted to do, had to meet that person's expectations.

Such dependence is prevalent in AA.

Sponsorship has no bearing in reality. The whole idea that grown men and women must run their lives by someone else ends up setting those very people to face life without the skills or the will to know the right or wrong things to do.

God has a better way. In fact, He gave us "The Way" through His Son Jesus:

"6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)

Jesus did not just come to tell us where to go, or to give us the certainty of knowing that the way He was giving us was the right way, but He gave us Himself, that He would live and move and have His being within every person who believed on Him (John 6: 29)

We receive Himself by the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and enacts the New Covenant:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)

God invites us to be dependent on His Spirit:

16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14: 16-17)

Then:

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:" (John 15: 26)

The same Holy Spirit who brings Christ within us, our hope of glory (Colossians 1: 27) and allows Him to work in us (Colossians 1: 29; Philippians 2: 12-13), this same Holy Spirit gives us all knowledge:

"20But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. . . .27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (1 John 2: 20, 27)

AA teaches people to be dependent on other people, which brings a snare and a curse. In Christ, we can be dependent on His Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth and grants us all knowledge.

Dr.Genita Petralli, The Urban Lies of AA, and the Truth that Sets You Free

One doctor, Genita Petralli, disabused many of the urban myths, in fact "urban lies" of Alcoholics Anonymous.

97% -- 97%!!! -- Do not get sober in AA. This statistic was stunning and unprecedented in my life. Then again, for all the time that I spent in meeting, I can testify that most people came and went just as soon as they entered. Very few people actually stayed around to collect their chips. Then there were those individuals who loved to collect their chips every month, only to get drunk again, then collect another chip.

How does this whole macadam program demonstrate life and that more abundantly?

The three percent who manage to stay sober in the program are heavily medicated.

What kind of life is that?

She suggests a healthy, nutritious approach to breaking free of alcoholism without entering into the deeper bondage of Twelve Steps, which take people down lower and lower into nothing.

I can identify more clearly why AA does not work, why it ends up creating the very problems which the "program" claims to address.

If we walk around with a sense of guilt, we cannot get better,

The majority of people are under anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication -- people want their life back, but you cannot get your life back if you are suffering daily depression and anxiety and frustration.

The program creates this problem because anyone who walks around convinced that they may say, do, or think something that will cause a resentment is just setting themselves up for a life of self-centered preoccupation.

When Jesus died on the Cross, he put away our sins forever:

"11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 11-14)

"One sacrifice for sins forever" -- no more needing to make sacrifices, to take one's inventory, to go through the motions of atoning for our sins. Man has a greater need. We are not just people who sin, we are sinners who are dead in our trespasses (Ephesians 2: 1). We need more than atonement. We need life, and that more abundantly (John 10: 10), and we receive this new life in Christ (John 3: 16; 14: 6)

If we insist on continuing to take our inventories, if we insist on believing that the work is not done, then we have only this to look forward to:

"26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10: 26-27)

A life of "fearful looking after" is not fun. That sense of dread, shame, and frustration just makes life not worth living, and the only way that most people can get through the day is with self-medicating of a different sort.

AA is full of urban lies. Most people do not get sober in meetings, and those who manage to "keep coming back" do so only because they are taking medications and living off of someone else.

AA Frustrates Grace and Forgiveness in Christ

The New Covenant is predicated on the forgiveness of all our sins:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)

Forgiveness of sins is not a light matter. God had to send His own Son to pay for our sins,  but He paid not just for our sins, but paid for all sins for all time, and to this day He serves as the Mercy Seat for the whole world (1 John 2: 1-2)

What does AA say about forgiveness? Nothing short of empty, bereft blasphemy:

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.

 

If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.

 

We turned back to the list, for it held the key to the future. We were prepared to look at it from an entirely different angle. We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that state, the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, had power to actually kill. How could we escape? We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? We could not wish them away any more than alcohol.

 

This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick.

Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done."

We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. (AA, pg 66-67)

 

If someone abused me as a kid, that person harmed me. To allow someone to hide behind "sick" makes no sense at all. In fact, it's down right reprehensible.

If someone steals from me, that's a loss which I have incurred. How will I be repaid for what was taken from me?

 

Forgiveness, at its most basic, economic level, must be about more than just "letting something go". Someone has to pay for what someone else took from us. Someone else has to recompense us for our losses.

 

We need God's grace every day in our lives. As long as anyone has a notion that they have only a provision connection with God, which at any time can be revoked because we have sinned, then we can never rest secure that we are at peace with God.

 

The Bible tells us that we have this peace:

 

"1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5: 1-2)

The Scripture is more final -- "Having been justified" -- it's a total, complete, irrevocable deal with God.

 

We are also invited to keep receiving His grace in our lives:

 

"17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive [lit. are receiving] abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."

 

In fact, God wants us to be defined and driven by God's grace:

 

"10But 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)

 

Without grace, you cannot forgive,  because we forgive to the extent that we receive God's grace in our lives:

 

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 32)

 

Christ forgave us completely of all our sins:

 

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1: 6-7)

 

"Accepted" is literally "made gracious". We are defined by grace in Grace personified, which is Christ, who lives in us (Colossians 1: 27), and by His faith we live (Galatians 2: 20-21)

 

As we allow Christ to live in us, His grace flows. As long as we believe that we are called to live this life, then we frustrate His grace in our lives, and thus we have no power to live, weighed down by the sense that we have to keep taking our inventory, keep cleaning up the past, keep making up for the future, and never able to move on with one's life.

Because Christ-Centered, We Do Not Identify with "Things Cropping Up"

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. (AA, pg 84)

While AA teaches us to "watch out for" defects of character, as if we are supposed to identify with them.

The Bible teaches quite differently:

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 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: 1-4)

Our feelings, our thoughts, should not be guided by what we feel or see or experience on earth, but rather what we are in heaven. We are in Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, in eternal glory and honor with Christ.

Then Paul writes about exchanging one identity for another:

"5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them." (Colossians 3: 5-6)

This passage is telling and wonderful all at once. In our lives, we will feel upset, anger, frustration, lack, and illicit desire within us. Whereas AA and pop psychology would suggest that we need to try harder to remove these "defects", the Bible informs us that those manifested feelings and thoughts are not us at all, but part and parcel of our "old man" in our body and soul, even though we have been born again through the Spirit. Verse seven clearly underlines that we who are in the Body of Christ no longer belong to that former life:

"8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3: 8-11)

"Put off" implies "do not identify with", for we are called instead to set our eyes on Jesus Christ our life, who lives in us (Galatians 2: 20-21) by His grace (1 Corinthians 15: 10).

Our new man is Christ, and the "renewal" takes place as we renew our minds to the Truth of who we are in Christ (Romans 12: 2). As we behold Christ, He who has been from the Beginning (1 John 2: 12-14), we are transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

When "these things crop up", we do not ask God to remove them from us, since they are not "us" anymore. Instead, we are called to keep believing on Him whom He hath sent (John 6:29), Jesus Christ, who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life (John 14: 6)

Because Christ-Centered, We Have a New Identity

When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn. (AA, pg 63)

"We were reborn."

There is only one way to "born again", and that is through Christ:

"3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3: 3)

and then

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. " (John 3: 6)

and

We are born again through Christ Jesus:

"22Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1: 22-23)

We are now a New Creation in Christ:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

We are a New Creation in Christ. We are not in "old man", so therefore, we should walk in the "new man", according to the Spirit of God, which grants to us the adoption of Sons (Romans 8: 15-17)

Not Ego-Centric, but Christ Centered

What usually happens? The show doesn't come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right. He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play does not suit him. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame.

 

Our actor is self-centered - ego-centric, as people like to call it nowadays. 

 

Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.(AA pg 61, 62)

 

This diagnosis has some merit, yet not complete.

 

To damn people for being "self-centered" is hollow invective at best, and dangerous intrusion at its worst.

 

Is it "self-centered" for me to eat? I have to eat to live, do I not? Is it self-centered for me to care about my daily needs, to make sure that I watch over my facts and figures and take care of business? Of course not? Self-centeredness in itself means very little.

 

Man has a bigger problem than "having problems" or "sinning."

 

He is dead in his trespasses because of Adam:

 

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." (Romans 5: 15)

 

This death, these trespasses, are all taken care of at the Cross through the Death of Jesus Christ.

 

"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: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us," (Ephesians 2: 1-4)

 

God has not just saved us from death, but Christ has given us new life, seating us in Christ at His Father's right hand:

 

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  "" (Ephesians 2: 5-6)

 

So, we are truly delivered from ourselves and granted a new "self", a new loife, but not one centered on ourselves. Our new life is in Christ:

"17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)