Sid's Recovery

This is a continuation of my post: That's My God!

Not only does God freely forgive us (justification), but He also wants to sanctify us – to change us from the inside out, to become more and more like Jesus. It doesn’t happen all at once, like justification. This is a continual process that we engage in for the rest of our lives and it is the MOST rewarding process I’ve ever been involved in. And, as long as we are involved in this process, our destiny is assured. We can be certain that our home is in heaven.

But why, you may ask, do we need to go any further than to be forgiven? If God wipes our record clean by the blood of Jesus, why would we need to be sanctified? … Well, while it is true that God gives us a new, clean slate to start over again with, He doesn’t take away our freedom to choose whom we will serve. And, he doesn’t normally change our learning history, which makes up our character. In other words, it is unlikely that He will miraculously take away our bad behaviors. He deals with our past without our participation, but He can’t deal with our future without our cooperation. If He did that, He would violate our freedom of choice, and my God would never do that us.

Let me illustrate, with my own life story… During most of my 25 years of “acting out” in my addictions, I realized that I was powerless over my problems, and I knew that my life was out-of-control. That’s the first step to healing, and that was good. I also came to believe that God could restore me to sanity – the second step.

And, I had enough understanding of justification that I regularly confessed my sins. And, by faith, I believed that God forgave me, and washed me clean in the blood of Jesus. I was justified – over and over again. But those were the only positive steps I took. Oh, I fought the temptations. I fought them with all the will power I could muster up. But I was still a practicing addict. And honestly, my addiction got worse and worse. In fact, I am quite sure that, if I hadn’t got into recovery in 1994, I would likely be incarcerated today. That’s just how bad it was becoming. And that, my friends, is why I needed more than just justification. I needed recovery. I needed sanctification. BTW, in my vocabulary, the words “recovery” and “sanctification” are synonymous. That’s why you will never hear me say (this side of Heaven) that I am recovered, because this is the progressive work of a lifetime, it doesn’t happen all at once.

You see, not only do we need forgiveness, we need character development; we need transformation! That’s where the process of sanctification comes in. So, what exactly is sanctification, and what must we do to cooperate with God so that He can accomplish this in our lives?

For me, it began when I made a decision to turn my will and life over to the care of God, as I understood Him. This involves three major components:

1. PRAYER: Constant (as near as possible) communion with God through prayer is vital to having victory over those sins that so easily beset me. For me, this needs to start as soon as I roll out of bed in the morning.
2. BIBLE STUDY: My mind is more clear and most able to focus on Biblical topics first thing in the morning. I never used to be a morning person, but as soon as I asked God to wake me up in the morning, that all changed -- for the better!
3. SURRENDER: When temptation comes, and my thoughts begin to turn towards sin, it is then and there that I must turn my heart and will to God and cry out to Him like Peter when he was sinking: "Lord, save me lest I perish!" (Matthew 14:27-31). Or surrender to Him like blind Bart when he said: "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:46-52). Or like Saul the persecutor, when he was struck down by the glory of Jesus. He said, "Lord, what would you have me to do?" (Acts 9:1-6). Absolute surrender to the will of God is the only way I have found to have consistent victory over any of my weaknesses.

As I choose to do as He directs in my life, He makes the impossible possible! This is how I cooperate with God so that He can work in me to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). This is the process of sanctification. This is the process of recovery.

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." (Step 3)