Humility; You Can't Get Sober Without It!

To live a good Christian life, you must humble yourself before God. All of us must do this, and we must do this everyday. No matter how good we may be, how hard we may try to do right, we are imperfect, always, and only through honest admission of our imperfections before Christ, can we become exalted.

This core tenet of Christianity holds true for all, of course, but never is the need for humility more pertinent than for the person struggling with drug addiction or alcoholism. None of us while abusing drugs or alcohol can say we live true Christian lives, and all of us while abusing drugs or alcohol have more than our fair share of sins to confess to everyday.

But humility before Christ requires of us more than just an admission of our daily sins, it requires of us an admission that there are some things in our life that are beyond our control, and beyond our ability to make better.

As long as we continue to abuse drugs or alcohol, denying the extent of the problem and thinking that we can control our actions even when it's obvious to all that we cannot, we are not humble; we are arrogant and prideful. Whatever else we may do in our lives, this arrogance alone keeps us from a true relationship with Jesus, and it keeps us from feeling His healing power.

Arrogance and pride keeps us from admitting to the problem, fearful of what others will say about our weakness. This lust for worldly exaltation slams the door on exaltation before God, through humility.

And so, above all else, the first step to getting better for yourself and for God is to become humble. The first step is to admit honestly and completely to Christ what you have done, admit that you cannot change without His help, and pray for His guidance. Before you do this, whatever else you may do; recovery from addiction is impossible.

Once you say to Christ "I need your help Lord, I cannot do this on my own!" you begin a life-changing journey. It doesn't mean that you’re not going to have to work at it, and it doesn’t mean that your recovery is going to be easy; it's almost certainly going to be a bumpy road; but once you open your heart with humility to Christ; recovery is possible.

Arrogance fills us up, and we get so full of ourselves, that there's no room left for the Lord. Until we can live with humility, we refuse the Lord access to our lives. Until we can live with humility, we cannot get better.