Digging Deeper

Heart Guide for Lesson 22:
No More Idols

The 12 Steps of AA have a great track record. Compare the 12 Steps of AA to Christian truths that we all need to walk in if we want to be free of besetting sins and addictions of any kind. While AA does not recognize Jesus as Lord, the 12 Steps are disciple-making steps such as Jesus commanded the church to teach (Matthew 28:19) and as such will certainly work to transform the lives of believing Christians who practice them.

Simply replace 'alcohol' with the name of your besetting sin and replace 'God as we understood Him' with the Name that is above every name—Jesus!  Then see if there are any steps you have been missing in your walk with the Lord.[1]

1.    We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.    Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

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

4.    Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5.    Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6.    Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7.    Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8.    Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.    Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10.    Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11.    Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12.    Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Return to No More Idols: Head to Heart Guides for more ways to go deeper into these truths or stay 'on course' by going to the...

Endnotes

[1]  A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. 2001) 59-60.