Identity is Not Feelings

You are not your feelings, ladies and gentlemen.

Any fears, thoughts, frustrations in our lives do not pertain to us.

God has invited everyone of us to step into His Son, to receive His standing, because He took our place as sinners at the Cross.

AA teaches people not only to identify with their feelings, but that they have to do something about them so that they can live "in the sunlight of the Spirit."

This invitation to the light brings so many people into darkness.

And I was one of those people.

I lived my life for too long convinced that the only way to stay above the fray of troubles - I had to watch my feelings, make sure that my thoughts did not stray.

What a nightmare it was.

Every time that I felt scared or frustrated, I was convinced that I had to do something about that terrible feeling, or else I would not be able to do anything.

I have since then learned that He is working within me to will and to do for His good pleasure, and that He is at work at all times.

He works in me because He lives in me.

This new life is not something that Jesus gives us.

Jesus is this new life, and with Him we receive all things.

We identify with Christ Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, not with ourselves.

Yet AA, like many "self-help" groups, and even some Christian organized recovery programs, keeping pointing people back to themselves, telling them to follow certain rules, to fulfill certain steps, then men and women will arrive at the right kind of person which they want to be.

We are meant for eternity, we need eternal life, and only the Eternal God and His only Begotten Son through the Holy Spirit grants us this life, this standing, this Person.

It's all about identity, it's all about life, not about feelings, not about steps, not about our doing anything that He has not already done.

And He has done everything for us!