God looks for people to bless

Just after that, Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said, “Because you went for help to the king of Aram and didn’t ask God for help, you’ve lost a victory over the army of the king of Aram. Didn’t the Ethiopians and Libyans come against you with superior forces, completely outclassing you with their chariots and cavalry? But you asked God for help and he gave you the victory. God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him. You were foolish to go for human help when you could have had God’s help. Now you’re in trouble—one round of war after another.”

~2 Chronicles 16:9, The Message

One of my favorite things about the Bible is its honesty. Time and again it teaches us how forgetful we humans are when it comes to our fragility and God’s patience with us. “God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.”

As ambivalent as so many of us feel when we think about firing ourselves as CEO of our lives (known in recovery circles as the Third Step), this is the part of a spiritual pilgrimage that is simple - sort of. It requires only one thing of us: we make a decision.

How simple is this step? It is so simple that…

You do not have to understand what it means.

You do not have to join any organizations to prove your commitment.

You do not have to change a single behavior, belief, thought or feeling.

You do not have to convince others or even yourself of your sincerity.

The one thing that you have to do in order to proceed on your journey of faith is to accept this one thing: God is on the alert and he is looking for committed people to bless. That’s it.

On taking the Third Step….“There [is] definitely no drama around it. It [is] just an act of willingness”[1]

~ By the Book

[1] https://www.nacr.org/center-for-12-step-recovery/by-the-book-doing-the-twelve-steps/by-the-book-step-3 at 13:30.