I believe the church can learn a lot from the various 12 step recovery movements that drug addicts and alcoholics, among others, attend to get their lives back together.
The most important thing you learn in these meetings is the concept of grace – true grace.
Hebrews 6:1: tells us that to grow in maturity as Christians we must first of all move from the foundation of repentance from DEAD WORKS towards faith in God.
It does not say ‘repent from sin’, nor does it say ‘from bad works’ but explicitly says ‘dead works’.
The ‘works’ being referred to here are our efforts at righteousness. The truth of the matter is that we cannot be righteous or holy – no matter how hard we try. It is through the love and grace of Christ that we are clothed in righteousness, and through the renewing of our minds and growing in maturity in our relationship with Him that we start to do good.
I like how the Message translation expresses this idea: “So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!”
The author of Hebrews then goes on to explain to us that Jesus has paid the price for our salvation and taken His place as our High Priest and Intercessor.
How does this connect to Alcoholics Anonymous?
Well, the only requirement for membership in this totally free program is the desire to stop drinking.
A.A. doesn’t tell you to stop drinking. N.A. doesn’t tell you to stop using drugs. Rather they create a space where you can confide in others, share your struggles in a judgement free zone, be vulnerable and open – and get help in your journey to become a better person overall.
I’ve seen people not only get sober and clean through these programs, but also get over other issues – I’ve seen relationships restored, I’ve seen inner healing taking place, I’ve seen true repentance – a shift in thinking, a new mindset.
Grace is that space within Christianity where we come to God and lay down all our burdens, get it all off our shoulders. Grace is that space where we can be honest with ourselves, naked before God. In 12 step meetings there is a rather cliched saying that gets used over and over – progress, not perfection. This is the process. We cannot be perfect – and grace is that realization. Grace says, you cannot be perfect, and that is okay – because His love is. And once this realization has taken root – that we cannot be righteous through works, but only through Him and His infinite grace and amazing love – the transformation begins. In becoming one with Christ and His crucifixion – by accepting what He has given us so freely – we can start focusing on becoming better people. The sin will stop automatically, the more we become one with Him. Our desires will change as we pray and ask Him to break our heart for what breaks His.
The alcoholic doesn’t stop drinking because he is NOT ALLOWED to – but rather because he knows he doesn’t have to anymore. There is more. There is love, and fellowship. Through the fellowship he grows in the understanding that one day in recovery is worth more than all the parties in the world – because the anxiety and obsession is gone.
It is the same with repentance. We don’t stop doing certain things because we are NOT ALLOWED, but rather we start asking ‘what would Jesus do?’, rather we start thinking like Him, and ultimately, behaving like Him. Repentance, just like recovery, therefore is a process – a process that takes place in the mind and heart of the believer, a process where our way of thinking changes. We start realizing that one day in His courts, one day in His presence, is better than an infinity anywhere else – and we start to desire what He desires.
Love changes your priorities. When a guy falls in love with a woman, his taste in movies might change. His taste in music might change. When she falls in love with him, her hobbies and interests might change – we reconcile our wants and needs, our desires, with that of our partners, the more we become one. Compromise takes place. It is an ongoing process of give and take.
This also applies to our relationship with God. The more we mature in our relationship with Him, as His bride – the more our priorities should be changing, the more our desires should be evolving. The more His desire should be our desire.
Once His desire becomes our desire, once His thoughts become our thoughts, once we start having the mind of Christ, we start seeing our past in a new way. We start regretting certain things, we start feeling remorse, and we start making amends.
We make amends by apologising to the ones we have hurt, through confession, by owning up to our mistakes, and by living a renewed life going forward – not making the same mistakes we have made in the past – not because of the letter of the law, but because mercy has rewritten our lives.
We make amends by living like Jesus lived. Sin comes from selfish, or carnal desires. Living according to the Spirit and not the flesh means living according to the highest law of all – the law of love. We make amends by giving ourselves to the world – to the broken and hurting, the lost and confused – by alleviating the suffering of the world instead of adding to it. By giving freely what we have freely been given – love, grace, and mercy.