12 STEPS to Recovery — STEP #1
Focus on the Recovery Process
It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Job 14:4; Romans 8:7. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness. Steps to Christ, 18.
When we realize we are powerless to climb out of the hole into which we were, born, or discover ourselves in, as a result of our sins/addictions, there is only one way to free ourselves. As Ellen White wrote concerning our condition, “education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, . . . here they are powerless.” The way to be lifted from our sinful condition with its obsessive thoughts and compulsive harmful, addictive behaviors is Jesus Christ. In the next issue of The Journey to Life we will focus our attention on the power He offers us.
David Sedlacek