Selfishness
Bible Reading: Isaiah 14:12-15
We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry it out.
When we were following after our addictions, we were powerfully directed by our desires. We were driven. We didn't think about the effect this had on others. Our selfishness was in control and cut us off from life as it should have been.
Selfishness is at the heart of destructive behavior. The Bible indicates that Satan was once a high-ranking angel in service of the Lord. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of Satan's fall, writing, "How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth. . . . For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. . . . I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.' Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths" (Isaiah 14:12-15).
The same kind of selfishness that brought Satan down resides in the hearts of all people on earth. No one is exempt. Addicts are no worse in nature than anyone else. It's just that the ways we've chosen to meet our needs have led us to hit bottom and go through our own personal hell. When we are free enough to focus on God's will and his power to work in our lives, he will show us a way to fulfill the needs we were trying to satisfy in vain.
When our recovery becomes selfish, a relapse is just around the corner.
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Taken from The Life Recovery Devotional: Thirty Meditations from Scripture for Each Step in Recovery by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. Copyright © 1991 by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
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