Holy Foolishness

#dailydevotional #devotional #bible #scripture #dailyliving #discipleship #mentorship #AA #alcoholicsanonymous #recovery #spiritualgrowth #inspiration #wisdom

I can remember being told early after my entrance into the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous to join a home group, and to volunteer for a service position in that group, as it would be indispensable for my spiritual growth, and continued sobriety, and that most people who didn't do this, did not stay sober, as statistics unfortunately showed.

I can also remember that my initial reaction was not only not wanting to do what they had strongly recommended that I do, but I also bristled with antagonism in my own mind toward this idea, as if I somehow knew better than they did, even though my own best thinking got me drunk, alienated from the people that loved me, destitute and broke, and even in some trouble with the law.

Those immense and painful repercussions were actually nothing short of the result of the Grace of God in my life and His love being manifested toward me, as He allowed those things to happen to me to draw me toward Himself, in spite of my strong inclination against Him at that time.

And so, this emotional, mental, and even physical bottom served me very well, as it drove me to listen to what was being asked of me to do by the experienced men and women who preceded me in the fellowship of AA, who I later came to see ONLY loved me, and had nothing but my very best interest in their hearts and minds.

So I then, despite my strong desire to rebel, accepted their instruction and joined a local group that I had become familiar with and made it my "Home Group," and even signed up for a service position there.

I began as a greeter which was kind of ironic considering I was plagued with fear, which then masked itself by stubborn layers of anger, resentment, depression, self-pity, self-centeredness, self-seeking, and the like.

To say that I was antisocial was not the least bit of an overstatement, and I usually spent most of my time trying to avoid talking to anyone. So, the fact that I was now officially a greeter was sort of a contradiction in terms.

But nevertheless, the fear and dread of going back to drinking and the horror of a life that I had been living in the years prior to that point, served as powerful and motivating force, and as I continued to show up for this new assignment, albeit kicking and screaming, something strange began to happen to me as I did.

Initially I hated it, and the more experienced group members that I served alongside at this post would offer me words of correction and encouragement that I didn't ask for.

"Make sure that you look people in the eye when you greet them and speak to them, ok Neil!?"

Or, "C'mon, that's not a handshake, that's a dead fish! Gimme a real handshake!"

Or lastly, and my personal favorite, as one of the group's oldtimers approached me, "How ya doin' kid?" "Good," I replied, with all of the enthusiasm of someone about to undergo root canal surgery.

"Good, huh? Well you should probably tell your face then!"

I couldn't explain it at the time, and had no words at my disposal to describe what was happening to me, but after the initial contempt and rage began to burn off of me, I reluctantly started to get pulled out of myself and began to laugh with some of these people at the comments that they were making, not only jokingly at me, but about themselves and their own experiences as well, and I began to feel a strange warmth come into my soul that I had never felt before on that level.

To cut to continuity, and to make a long story short, these special people became not only my closest friends, but they became my family and laughed with me, cried with me through some of the most difficult times that I had gone through, and were also right there to celebrate with me through my greatest personal victories, champion me, and brag on me to whoever would listen to them.

They were always there. Rain, shine, or anything in between. They didn't just tell me that they loved me, as important as it was for me to hear that. They SHOWED me that they loved me through their actions, their behavior, and their example.

There were of course, many other things that I was subsequently asked to do in Alcoholics Anonymous; particularly getting a sponsor and taking the twelve steps, building my life on spiritual principles, and then passing on the treasures of what I had learned and experienced by becoming a sponsor to others as well. But it all started by being willing to listen and obey to an illogical instruction.

Because I had suffered enough of the painful repercussions that inevitably come as the result of trying to play God and manage my life all by myself, consulting noone but my own self proclaimed brilliance as the prime authority for how I would make even the most important decisions and live my life, spiritually, morally or otherwise, I had then finally become willing to at least TRY to begin to listen to, and follow God's illogical instructions.

The Word of God speaks of this very same dynamic between the futility of playing God, and taking direction only from ourselves, and then of hopefully obtaining, by His Grace and a lot of self-manufactured desperation, the willingness to finally listen to His life giving instruction.

"There is a path before each person that seems right,

but it ends in death."

Proverbs 14:12

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."

1 Corinthians 1: 25-30

Oh how true the aforementioned passages of scripture really are!

In my unregenerate, and unrenewed mind, I arrogantly, and ignorantly perceived what these good people in Alcoholics Anonymous were teaching and doing as weak, and even foolish.

Oh how wrong I was! I was the one who didn't have peace in my heart with God. I was the one who was suffering from such confusion of the mind, and turmoil of the emotions that I despaired of either ever being solved, and wasn't sure life was worth living anymore.

And I was the one who suffered from an obsession of the mind to drink and use drugs that was so powerful, that without God's power it would be too much for me to overcome.

Yes their instructions were to say the least, illogical, and dare I say even ridiculous to me.

How could greeting, or making coffee, REALLY help me? Seriously?

Well, as the saying goes, if you want something you've never had, you have to be willing to do something you've never done!

My experience, and the experience of scores of other lives have abundantly confirmed this ageless truth!

Lastly, - although in the sharing of my own testimony, Alcoholics Anonymous is obviously prevalent as the backdrop, as it is the story God has given me, and I wouldn't change it even if I could, there will undoubtedly be those who will feel that they can't relate to it.

But I'd like to challenge that thinking, only in love, if you will allow me to.

You may not be able to relate to the specifics of this story. You may have never suffered from alcoholism or drug addiction. So now, rather than focusing on the specifics of my testimony, let's instead start to focus on THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS that lay underneath it!

As you've come to church, or even a group of friends who are believers, and followers of Christ, and have undoubtedly come into that situation as a world-weary traveler, beat up from doing things your own way, do you find yourself plagued with the aforementioned fear masked with layers of anger, resentment, self-pity, self-centeredness, and self-seeking, etc?

As you struggle to admit what you're feeling and thinking to these people, do you hate the fact sometimes that you have to be there? And, if you're truly honest with yourself, have you ever found what they have suggested to you to be illogical, or even cliche or overly simplistic, and asked yourself, how in the world is doing something that simple gonna help me!?

I think you get the point. You CAN in fact relate with my story a great deal, and deep down, in the core of our beings, we are far more alike than we are different, aren't we?

Let's close with a story from 2 Kings that I believe illustrates a big part of the problem, and the solution that we have before us today.

It involves Naman, who was a great commander of the army of the king of Aram, who had victory over Israel.

Naman contracted leprosy and sought Elisha, a prophet in Israel for his healing.

2 Kings 5: 9-14

"So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy."

Are we not like Naman, perhaps more than we'd care to admit?

We beseech the help of others, but when they present to us a simple set of instructions to follow, instead of remembering our the truly desperate state of our situation, and being overcome with gratitude at the thought that we're being given an answer to the grave problem that has been besetting us, we instead scoff at the instructions given, worse yet criticize them, and give suggestions as to what they really should be as if we know better!?

If we knew better, than we wouldn't have to seek help from another to begin with!

Maybe, just maybe God designs the dynamic of help in this way, because what we REALLY need to be healed of is our own stubborn and delusional pride that constantly causes us to want to save face by any means necessary and portray ourselves as not really needing help, at least to the extent that we actually do, and as the ones who truly know better. What a farce!

The great news for us is that, like Naman, if after letting the rage of false indignation and phony self-righteousness out of our system, we are able to receive even a modicum of humility and listen to God's instructions to us, we can still turn from our prideful ways and be healed!

So whether our need be physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or some combination of them all, let's pray that God would continue to touch and soften our hearts, that we might by His Grace remain forever, humble, open, and sensitive towards His voice, whether He speaks to us through The Holy Spirit, His Word, or through others, that we may never be too prideful, egotistical, or grandiose to allow our prejudices toward God, His ways, and His people stop us from obeying His directions, and this receiving the best of the blessings that He has for us, in Jesus' Name, Amen!

Questions and Reflection:

1.) Are there times when I am I too prideful and "wise in my own eyes" (Proverbs 3:7,) to receive the counsel of God, or follow the instructions that God would have me follow?

2.) Have I allowed old ideas toward God's ways, and my own prideful and stubborn insistence on doing things my own way prejudice me against following God's directions for me because they are "too simple?"

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

Zechariah 4:10