The One Step: Believe On Him

Not Twelve Steps.

Not needed, not wanted, not good for you, must be avoided, cast aside, thrown away.

The lifetimes of struggling with feelings, thinking that I was not OK, we are not supposed to strive and barely stay alive in such nonsense.

The work is Finished, in Christ.

AA wants people to think that the work is not done.

That is just evil.

No wonder so people get depressed and unhappy in AA meetings.

For the  longest time, I lived life trying to protect my head from upsets.

I never realized what all the frustration was really:

"16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 16-17)

Yet we cannot deflect the attacks of the enemy if we reflect on our sins, instead of resting in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Jesus for your grace and truth, personified within yourself.

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

This grace and truth is all about rest and receive all that Christ is!

That's why Peter told everyone:

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3: 18)

This life is about one step: Believe on Him!

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

I stumbled on this verse because I kept thinking to myself:

There must be a part that I have to play.

Yet when I read throughout the New Testament, I learned that I was dead in my trespasses before Jesus died on the Cross.

Then I had to take another look at the Book of Beginnings, Genesis:

"6And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2: 16-17)

Of course, we all learn what happens afterward:

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3: 6-7)

Because they took it upon themselves to know good and evil, the first man and woman looked at themselves, then they began seeking every way to measure up to the standard. I believe that their nakedness in itself was not the source of shame, but the fact that the sense of wrongdoing was implanted within them, and the first thing that they noticed about themselves was their nakedness.

Thus they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.

Not vegetables, not fruits, not anything from the cursed ground, but only the shedding of blood:

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;" (Romans 3: 25)

and then

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" (Ephesians 1: 7)

and finally:

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Hebrews 9: 22)

The blood cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1: 7), not our efforts, not our fruits, not what we do.

The one step, the only step for righteousness, peace, and joy:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

John later writes in his First Epistle:

"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." (1 John 3: 23)

We believe on His name, which grants us Jesus' righteousness, then peace, and finally His joy! -- and when all three of these spiritual gifts are flowing unimpeded in our lives, then new love one another.

Not Twelve Steps, or even Ten Commandments -- just one commandment (one!) - believe on Jesus!