Celebrate Recovery
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Every Christian you know is impaled on the horns of a vexing dilemma.
We all want very badly for things to go well for us,
and we work hard to see that they do. If people treat us poorly we tell
them to stop, explain how they can do better, put them in their
place or simply withdraw. If our circumstances don't please us, we do what
we can to change them or we pull out and move on. Some of us work hard
at humbling ourselves, holding our tongues, controlling our attitude,
handling things well, offering forgiveness and
accepting what we can't change.
None of it seems to work very well for very long.
People aren't nearly as interested in changing for us as we'd
prefer. And troublesome circumstance are impossible to adjust or
avoid indefinitely. They seem to stalk us. So we're all forced to go
through times when we feel frustrated and angry or tired and depressed.
We understand why. The world we live in is so uncooperative with our
simple desire for things to go well. We don't know what else to do
except keep trying harder to do the right things.
My recent experience with this dilemma has prepared me to
revisit a lesson I've already been taught scores of times.
Instead of merely wanting my life to go well so I can feel good, I've
been called into a process of transformation / recovery that grows
out of closeness with God.
The reason I still get upset when life and people treat me badly is
because, deep down, I expect and demand them to be better.
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I forget that they
are opportunities to re-experience God's grace as "enough" for me
(2 Cor. 12:7-10), to know Jesus more intimately by sharing in some of what
He suffered (Phil. 3:10-11),
to become more mature in my faith (James 1:2-4).
My problem is that I want
to feel good more than I want to grow up or experience God. I hate having
to "mourn" and to do without, especially when it goes on
for days, so I don't get much of God's soul-deep comfort (Matt. 5:4).
And I don't reveal Christ very profoundly to those around me, because
my experience of Him remains pretty shallow.
Sound familiar? This dilemma is the kind of thing we grapple
with at Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights from 7-10. Maybe you should
join us.
Bob Sears
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315 S. Knott Avenue