I came to believe that the Bible is the Word of God bit by bit as over and over I would recognize that “This book knows me.” I saw this, to mention just a couple of things, from the deceitfulness of my heart (my ability to tell myself lies in order to do what I wanted to do (Jeremiah 17:9), and from the principle of reaping what we sow. About this, the choices we make have consequences, and for me the choices I made came back to haunt me, to bite me in the rear end.
There is so much wisdom in the ancient texts. In fact the Bible show us the right path, it tells us where we got off the path, it tells us how to get back on the path, and it tells us how to stay on the path (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is full of practical principles and wisdom that secular Psychology, when it gets it right, is only just starting to discover in its slow progress towards truth. The principles of the scripture bring life to those who are willing to follow them. They brought life to me.
But there is so much more to having Christ as your higher power. In particular there is power. We are told in Philippians 2:13, that when we fully cooperate with Him, He works with us to change even our desires. And on top of that, He gives us the wherewithal to do what we deep down know what we need to do (or not do!). I discovered that I could not do this without Him, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).
So yes in a Christ centred 12 step program there are principles and there is power, but for me the thing that crowns it all, the thing that puts the cherry on the top, is the presence of God in my life. They say love makes the world go round, but many of us have a huge love deficit. In other words we have little or nothing to give in this area (yet another area where the Bible knows us). When we come to Him in full surrender and stick with Him, He pours out His love in our hearts (Romans 5:5), and then that love flows through us. You even get to like yourself! So yes there are principles, and yes there is power in a Christ centred 12 step program, but all this is nothing compared to knowing and feeling His tangible extravagant healing love in our lives. It makes it all worth while, it makes it all possible. It gives us hope, and it is freely given to all who wholly and fully turn to Him.
Sometimes it takes a while before we are willing to come to Him in the sort of surrender I am talking about here. I only came to Him when I came to the end of myself, when I bottomed out so to speak. Are you there yet? Have you suffered enough yet from the consequences of your own and others' choices? He is waiting, and He tells us “He who comes to me I will in no wise cast him out (John 6:37). How will you, how do you respond to His extravagant healing love? I tried doing it my way and messed up big time. So now for me His way is the only way to fly!
