12 steps series step 7: the humility highway
12 Steps: measure of Jesus Brand Spirituality is transformed lives.
Step 7: Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
The counter-intuitive genius of 12 Steps is this:Humility is the highway that leads to recovery. Humility runs thru Steps…provide action-definition of humility:
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 & fearless inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and 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 God to remove our shortcomings
Humility: nothing to do w/ low self esteem. “I’m worthless” = voice of despair, not humility. Divine attribute: “who is like Lord our God, the One how sits enthroned on high, who stoops down” Ps.113:5
“I live in a high & holy place, but also with those who are lowly in spirit” Is. 57: 15
So humility is not just the road to recovery. It’s the long and winding road that leads to our highest calling.
“Jesus knew that Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist” John 13: 3 [honor > humility]
James: “That is why scripture says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble…Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up” James 4: 6,10 [humility > honor]
Peter:“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5: 5-6) [humility > honor]
Step 7 Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
Before we go any further, need to clean the windshield: Some think that humility in religion is about an unrelenting focus on our sin. That by beating ourselves up over sin, we are walking way of humility
Not so. Much of sin-focused religion is just another expression of self-will run riot. We focus on our sin and work like the devil to cure ourselves. Result: we get hard on ourselves, hard on each other, and our vision of God gets hard: God, the Unpleasable Taskmaster
I’ve walked this road, and it does not get you were you want to go. Humility is not about an obsessive, paralyzing, unrelenting focus on sin, but a freeing, empowering, unrelenting admission of our need for God: Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
Shortcomings: A gentle word. Wonderful translation for word “sin”: Here’s metaphor: torah, Hebrew for God’s word or God’s law comes from verb yarah = to throw something so that it hits it’s mark
Hebrew for sin: hatta’a = missing the mark; Gk. hamartia derived from missing the mark in archery.
Shortcoming begs another question: coming short of what? Coming short of the expectations of crowd, family, social group? Most of us run, by definition, in middle of pack—roughly as decent as next guy.
“Shortcomings” finds meaning only in context of a bigger story, a high adventure-romance sort of drama. Story of God superintending our creation, shaping us like a potter shaping clay for a purpose: to image him on the earth. To reflect his glory—to shine him forth. Our short comings only have meaning in light of this high calling.
“All have sinned, and fall short…of the glory of God” (Ro. 3:23)
Humility is the highway out of exile, toward our highest calling. The road to recovery, transformation, spiritual awakening, the road to God & our true calling as his image bearers.
Step 7: Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
Sounds simple enough. But must understand what we are up against. The entire history of humanity, the structure of every merely human institution, best of human wisdom, dismisses Step 7.
Pride, the core instinct of our fallen human nature that we would rather do things ourselves, despises, belittles and ignores Step 7. And so often, there is no asking God to remove our short- comings. Or we treat Step 7, like it’s a tip o’ the hat to man upstairs, and our asking is empty, half-hearted, perfunctory.
If religion is our game we much prefer self will run riot religion: “God let me show you how hard I’m working on this!” Your preoccupation with your shortcomings, your bad feeling aboutyour sin, your whipping yourself into a bloody pulp because of your foul ups….your greatest efforts to put another arrow in the bow, to pull back with the strength of your arm alone, to let loose and fire once again at the mark….all of it amounts to nothing w/o Step 7: Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
What a huge step, this removal request, in light of our most dearly held shortcomings. Oh sure, some shortcomings, we’d gladly have removed without batting an eye. But really debilitating ones, the ones He’s most likely to go after, are the ones we have in a death grip.
If you grew up in alcoholicfamily, common shortcoming: an out of controlneed to control. Not ability to control when called for; a need to control, like an alcoholic’s need for alcohol. Something inside has learned to say: “UNLESS I’M IN CHARGE, I’M NOT SAFE”
Image for shortcoming removal: pruning. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener….every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be more fruitful.” (Jn. 15: 1-2)
Art to pruning that is not self-evident. Counter intuitive. Involves removal of growth that seems to be bearing fruit. Meanwhile he completely ignores the shortcomings you’d give anything to remove. “We’ll get to that.” “BEFORE 2nd COMING I HOPE!”
(I’m lousy at leading staff meetings…. “God would you remove this shortcoming?”” No, he’s not interested. He’s over there pruning my pride, until eventually I say to Don, “Don, why don’t lead staff mtg?”)
Step 7 means you’re no longer in charge of your self-improvement. Thing is, you don’t need to be. When you ask him to remove your shortcomings, you’re passing the agenda over to God.
How does God go about removing something like an out of control needto control? Depends how strong a death grip. Just because you’ve asked him to remove it, doesn’t mean you don’t have a tight grip on it. Gap between brain’s instruction to let go, and hand’s release. [localized problem, lactic acid build up in gripping muscles]
Removal of this sort normally proceeds with a combination of what feels like tugging, a certain pressure, maybe even rending & tearing, and gentle reassurance.
Find yourself in situations where need to control is making thingsworse, not better. As child in alcoholic family it made things better, but now in your marriage say, it’s making things worse.
That’s experienced as a certain tugging pressure…may cause cramping muscles to grip even tighter at first. Then words of gentlereassurance: “It’s OK, I’m here—you can relax”.
The beautiful thing is, the pruner is in charge of the pruning. Self-pruning, doesn’t cut it. Like giving yourself haircut.
When the pruner is pruning, our job is to keep going to him with the pain, the confusion, pressure… “God this is hard! I don’t like this!
I prefer to be in charge!” “Morning noon and night, I will complain and lament, and he will hear my voice” (Psalm 55:18)
Then, as you are assured the he is hearing your voice, you will relax, ever so slightly, in order to hear his voice. “You are in my hands, and I am not your alcoholic father. You can relax, you can trust me.”