The Bible: God's Filter for Our Lives Through Recovery.

When navigating life's challenges, we often adopt various methods or frameworks. Even more so, when we are in recovery from trauma, addiction, and mental health challenges. Many rely on self-help books, peer advice, social media validation, or popular psychology trends. These filters often emphasize personal experience over biblical principles, leading to skewed judgments. Other people will lean towards, guilt, shame, or rigid moral codes that lack the grace found in scripture. Emotional reasoning or reliance on past traumas can also misguide us, leaving us stuck in a cycle of negativity.

The Bible serves as a beautifully constructed filtering system for our lives, much like nature's intricate mechanisms for purifying water. Just as streams flow through layers of sand and gravel that cleanse and refine, the wisdom within the scriptures filter our thoughts, choices, and actions, guiding us toward clarity and truth. Each parable acts as a porous stone, allowing the pure essence of divine guidance to seep through while trapping impurities of doubt and confusion. The Bible nurtures our spiritual well-being, enabling us to navigate life's complexities with a clear and discerning heart, akin to the pristine water that emerges from a well- filtered source.

Why are we continuing to consume the filthy waters of mainstream recovery, that is falling short and leaving us unfulfilled, without lasting change?

As we step out of our old lives of dysfunction, whatever it is that leads us to the trailhead of transformation, we find ourselves at a staring at a complicated map of choices. Sometimes, our spouses or parents are leading us to this life change, demanding our dysfunction to stop affecting their life. Maybe it was a criminal case that got us into this place of transition, leaving us with no other choice but to at least consider alternative lifestyles. Others just look into the mirror one day, sick and exhausted, knowing they have finally splattered at rock bottom, not knowing where to turn.

The ways to filter our lives into a partially clean yet undrinkable stagnant filth are astounding in this day and age. It has grown to be one of the most marketable ways to scam the brokenhearted out of ridiculous amounts of money. We join rehab centers that work while we are there, yet the moment we are released into the world, we are considering how to fall back into our cycle of chaos, needing to once more be comforted and accepted. Government programs lead us into forced recovery, that do not have the genuine compassion or funding to fix our broken spirits. We begin to compare our messy lives with others around us via our social media feeds and live interaction and try to mimic their lifestyle changes to fit our own.

All of these murky waters are undrinkable, regardless of how pretty the packaging or high the price tag.

-Self Will: Relying solely on personal determination or willpower to overcome our challenges.

(Proverbs 3:5-6) emphasizes trusting in the Lord rather than our own understanding and encourages us to rely on God for guidance and strength.

-Cognitive Behavioral Techniques: Focusing on changing thoughts and behaviors without connecting them to spiritual truths.

(Romans 12:2) speaks about the renewal that comes from God, highlighting the importance of aligning our thoughts with Scripture.

-Positive Affirmations: We cannot ground our lives in truth and accountability by using self-affirming statements.

(Ephesians 4:15) encourages us to speak the truth in love, suggesting our affirmations be rooted in biblical truth rather than empty positivity.

-Support Groups: Relying on community support alone without incorporating spiritual fellowship or biblical teachings.

(Hebrews 10:24-25) emphasizes to us the importance of gathering together to encourage one another in faith, holding to the teachings of the Bible for our strength.

-Mindfulness and Meditation: Practicing mindfulness that may disconnect us from our spiritual roots and add philosophy that confuses our Christian theology.

(Philippians 4:8) encourages us to focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable; suggesting a form of meditation grounded in Scripture.

-Lifestyle Changes: Emphasizing lifestyle changes driven by secular principles rather than spiritual growth.

(2 Corinthians 5:17) speaks about becoming a new creation in Christ, indicating that any true change must come from a heart transformation through our faith.

-Therapeutic Relationships: Forming exclusive relationships with therapists while neglecting spiritual mentorship or guidance.

(Proverbs 27:17) highlights the sharpening influence of relationships, suggesting to us a balance of both psychological and spiritual mentorship.

-DIY Spirituality: Creating a personalized spiritual path that mixes various beliefs without adherence to biblical truth.

(John 14:6) underscores that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; and affirms to us the importance of a singular commitment to Christ and His teachings.

-Temporary Relief Mechanisms: Utilizing distractions (like entertainment, work, or hobbies) to cope with life instead of addressing underlying issues biblically.

(Psalm 34:18) reminds us that God is near the brokenhearted and encourages us to seek His comfort and healing.

-Fear-Based Motivations: Allowing fear of failure to dictate decisions rather than trusting in God's purpose.

(1 John 4:18) states that perfect love casts out fear, pointing us to the importance of grounding our decisions in God's love and promises rather than our fear.

Filtering our lives through the teachings of the Bible is ESSENTIAL for our transformation!

The shaping of our values, decisions, and actions in alignment with our faith is highly important in the lasting change of our lives. Clarity from our former chaos comes from above. I encourage you to find a home church to regularly attend with strong ministry in a Christ-centered recovery program, find mentors there to learn from, begin to give back to your community. If there is something that I might personally do to assist you with your filtration system, REACH OUT! Many of us from the Christian Recovery want to share the pure waters of life with you.