NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

June 10

Scripture focus: I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.  But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.  It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.  I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. Romans 7:14-25 The Message

“A mind is a system of ideas, each with the excitement it arouses, and with tendencies impulsive and inhibitive, which mutually check or reinforce one another.” William James

Gerald May wrote, “According to Genesis, our human spirit is the breath of God in us. If so, it not only gives us the life we have but also calls us toward a more perfect and whole life, a life of growing freedom and love. Thus the human spirit is the source of our yearning as well as of our very life.” (Addiction and Grace, p.65)

In the next few devotionals we’re going to learn more about the neurology of the addictive process. But first, a word of caution. It is a good thing to acquire knowledge, but expecting knowledge to offer us salvation reminds me of wise teaching from the “Big Book” of AA. In it, someone has written that an expectation is a resentment waiting for an opportunity to arise.

The physiology of addiction is intriguing and interesting and instructive – but it is as mysterious as the grace of God that saves us. It helps me to stay focused in a healthy way to remember that all this complexity is a reflection of our Creator God.

Now, about the brain...

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