Perseverance or Pessimism

Let’s look at Luke 18:1-8 and see what we can determine with respect to addictive behavior recovery. in this parable, Jesus addresses both persistence and hope. These definitely go together in a recovery effort. Change in character and personality traits takes a great deal of effort and consistency. This can often be discouraging when we do not see progress or the rate of progress we hoped for. The scripture says “Will not God grant justice to His elect…?” The connection between the judge with an attitude and our recovery struggles is based on Jesus’ call to have faith and call on God “day and night”. The addictive behavior is our “unjust Judge”. Yes, we brought this on ourselves and often find it difficult to make the changes necessary to recover . There is a real need to develop consistent habits of prayer, being open, working with our recovery group and if married - the relationship with our spouse. These efforts will rewire the brain and emotional responses. As addictive personality, we often respond to our emotions rather than the logic that says - “what does God want from me in this situation. “ Yet, Jesus encourages us to cry out to God “day and night”. Do we really take a persistent attitude in both prayer and recovery efforts? We need to put effort into both of these elements of our recovery. If we become self reliant, the recovery will be self based and not deal with the spiritual element which is key to a full spectrum recovery. God wants us to call on him in our recovery. What better help can we call on than God Almighty? This should inspire us to make every effort to implement the changes we need to make in our character and our environment. And to God be the Glory!