Complacency and Accountability

That's why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go. 1 Corinthians 4:17 (The Life Recovery Bible)

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in recovery is complacency. We travel a distance down the recovery road and thin we have got it all together. We no longer need to attend meetings, apply the principles of recovery to our lives. We no longer need to fellowship with others or share our walk with them.

Complacency grows out of a false sense of security. Recovery can bring false security setting us to thinking all is well and when a problem arises or temptation is placed before us we fall, not meaning to- we just drop our guards. God has a plan for each of us, abandoning His plan mean we are also abandoning His help and can only lead to relapse.

Complacency is evidence we are not applying what we have learned. Often in recovery we begin well, learn all we need to learn, do all we need to do. But as we progress we stop applying what we have learned. We find easier, softer ways of living recovery, ways that are less inconvenient to our new found lifestyle. The principles of recovery require daily application in our lives. We must rededicate our lives to God daily, pray for Him to reveal His will for our lives and give us what we need to continually grow in our relationship with Him.

Complacency leads to relapse. Complacency leads to sin. Sin leads to relapse and relapse leads to death. In recovery we can become discouraged. It all seems too hard. We become complacent about our addictions and begin to believe we have got them beat. At these times we all need to remember where we came from, what we and God had to do to change that and that if we relapse we may never get back to where we are now.

One of the ways we can avoid complacency is through obtaining and accountability partner. Someone we trust in whom we can confide and be honest with. Someone who will identify complacency building in us and bring it to our attention. Someone who will remind us what we have learned and our need to apply it daily our lives.

Accountability means taking personal responsibility for our recovery. How easy it can be for us to overlook our own responsibilities in recovery and blame God when things go wrong. Unfortunately this attitude does not solve problems when they arise. When things go wrong in our lives the first place we need to look is within ourselves. What action or attitude is causing us to react the way we do? We then need to pray, wait on God's response and follow His direction in making things right.

In the scripture above Paul sent Timothy to the Corinthian believers to remind them of what he had taught them. He realized they needed someone to hold them accountable to the truth they had been taught. Someone to encourage them to persevere in their faith in God. Accountability in recovery is important. Accountability partners are there to help and remind us what works in recovery. They are also there to help us develop faithfulness as we grow in our relationship with God.

Let the inside match the outside

My old self has been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (The Life Recovery Bible)

Almost all of live two lives, what people see on the outside and what is really going on inside. Growing up we learn what outward signs will please others in our lives. Like putting on a mask, our clothes and body language are shaped to fit into whatever situations we find ourselves in. Over time we learn to hide serious issues such as addiction and other problems.

The world judges us on our outward appearances but God judges us on what's on the inside. What's in our hearts?

Today I want to highlight some things that we need to be aware of as we walk the recovery road.

• Putting on masks can lead to self-deception
  sometimes we live lies for so long we begin to believe them ourselves. In recovery we need to draw close to God and ask Him to 'reveal the real me to myself'. When He does we need to be prepared to go to any lengths to being the 'real me'
  
  Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed. Proverbs 12:19 
  
  
• We put on masks often because we know the truth but do not want to accept it – denial is a major stumbling block in recovery. To overcome it we must be willing to be completely honest in all things, no matter how much pain it may cost us in the short term it is always worth it in the long term.
  
  But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.
  James 5:12
  
  
• We put on masks for self-serving reasons – we all want to be important in life. It is dangerous for us when we put the need of acceptance from others before our loyalty to God.
  
  Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3
  
  
• We put on masks to display outward conformity without inner reality – it is possible to be involved in recovery, going through the motions without actually achieving recovery.
  
  I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. Galatians 3:5
  

It is my prayer for all who read this that we can stop living two lives and trust God to help us become the people He created us to be, achieving the purposes He has planned for us each through faith in Him and the power of the Holy Spirit living in and through us on a daily basis.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Life Recovery Bible)

God has made a way

But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves James 1:22 (The Life Recovery Bible)

God has a purpose for all of us and He has made a way for all of us to achieve and sustain sobriety, which He reveals to us through His Word.

He has given it to us to make the way clear and He has given it to us intentionally so we will know how to respond to the issues of life as they arise without alcohol, drugs, gambling or what ever other addiction we may be overcoming.

God has a purpose for giving us His word.

To ensure His purposes will be accomplished in and through each of us.
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. Isaiah 55:8-11 (The Life Recovery Bible)

To Tell Us We Are Lost
Through the Bible we learn about: heaven, hell and sin and our need for a Saviour.

Every effort we make to save ourselves fails and will continue to fail until we recognize we are lost and in need of salvation.

As the person who has a physical illness must know of that illness and that he is in need of medical attention, the addict must also know of their spiritual sickness and see his need for salvation.

Anyone can stop using as many of us have done time and time again yet nothing ion our lives change.

Until we recognize our need to be saved from our lost condition, we will never make the changes that we must make in life to accomplish effective salvation.

Sin dooms us to be lost.

God created man as a pure, upright being.
But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path. (Eccl. 7:29)

When man disobeyed God and sinned, he was separated from God.
So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:23-24)

As sin separated the first man from God, sin separates man from God today.
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope ( Eph. 2:12)

Separated, because of his sins, is lost and doomed to eternal death—separation from God in the place of eternal punishment.

When we apply the word of God to ourselves and live by it, we are fellowship with both the Father and Son, and thus has salvation.

Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with
both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)

We must keep the commands of God being faithful even to the point of death and he will receive the crown of life at the final day.

Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you
remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. (Rev. 2:10)

The Solution

God's purpose in giving us His word is only fulfilled when each of learns its message and applies it to our live so that we might have the salvation of our souls

The Question

Have you obeyed the word of God so that you might have your sins forgiven, be saved and achieve lasting life transformation and recovery?