We are getting ready to start day two here at the Celebrate Recovery Summit, being hosted here at Saddleback Church. And after getting a chance to hear so many incredible stories, and teaching about the process of recovery I heard a consistent terminology that really had an impression on me.
“Don’t be a pharisee”
What this means is don’t be a person that says, “I don’t need recovery.” At first I didn’t understand because there are obviously millions of Christians who aren’t in a recovery program and their life and faith continues. But this phrase comes from the fact that during Jesus day it was the Pharisees who didn’t think they needed saving. It was the purely religious that were hiding their “hurts, habits and hangups” behind a plastic faith - and Jesus saw right through them.
I think the “light bulb” moment was when I realized that Celebrate Recovery’s method of recovery is directly tied into the process of sanctification. Every christian is in a process of sanctification, the real issue is that for most of us we are extremely passive in it. We don’t really take time to sort through the rough spots in our character, in our relationships and in the source of our behaviors - that is were Celebrate Recovery comes in.
It isn’t just a recovery process for people dealing with substance and other forms of abuse and addiction. It is also a process that helps people to find their identity in Christ, and find the sources of their sin and destructive behaviors. And we all have those things we consistently fall into; whether it is anger with our kids, wondering eyes, computer sites, truthfulness, bitterness, or a controlling personality.
Jesus calls all of us to a lifestyle of recovery; meaning a life spent seeking to become more like Christ and to be constantly saved from ourselves - to be in recovery from our “former self.”
So, what is a point of action? Check out Celebrate Recovery they have small group materials, they have excellent resources to help being a CR ministry at your church, or check out John Baker’s new book “Life’s Healing Choices” - it is an excellent book to sort through these areas of recovery we all need.
“Life’s Healing Choices: Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits” (John Baker)
