gospelmind

seeing life through the lens of the Gospel
 

Homecoming and Withdrawal

"What we lose in homecoming is not the objects of our attachment, nor even our care for them. In fact, our care grows toward true love, love that sees and appreciates all things in the world for what they are. What we lose is the attachment itself, the strength of our addictive behavior in relation to these objects, the way we make gods of them. But we feel no real consolation when we experience the inevitable withdrawal symptoms that accompany letting go our attachments. There is real pain here."

--Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 96

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Posted April 20, 2010
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Spaciousness

"If we do not fill our minds with guilt and self-recriminations, we will recognize our incompleteness as a kind of spaciousness into which we can welcome the flow of grace. We can think of our inadequacies as terrible defects, if we want, and hate ourselves. But we can also think of them affirmatively, as doorways through which the power of grace can enter our lives. Then we may begin to appreciate our inherent, God-given lovableness."

--Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, 31

This, of course, only works if we preach the Gospel to ourselves. We can only avoid guilt and condemnation if we a) deny the weight of our wrongdoing and idolatry and claim that we have no sin ("it's not a big deal!"); or b) accept that God "made Him who knew no sin to become sin, in order that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21)

So to deal honestly with our defects/idolatries without hating ourselves, we need Christ.

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Posted April 15, 2010
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Addiction and Humility

"Sooner or later, addiction will prove to us that we are not gods."

--Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 20

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Posted April 14, 2010
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Rock Bottom

"To state it quite simply, I had tried to run my life on the basis of my willpower alone. When my supply of success at this egoistic autonomy ran out, I became depressed. And with the depression, by means of grace, came a chance for spiritual openness."

--Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 10

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Posted April 14, 2010
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Understanding and Addiction

"Understanding will not deliver us from addiction, but it will, I hope, help us appreciate grace."

--Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 4

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Posted April 14, 2010
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Addiction and Grace

I am reading Addiction and Grace by Gerald May, a leading Christian psychologist who passed away recently.

Some of these quotes are just too good not to share. So I'm going to post them... hope they provoke some good thought.

"I am not being flippant when I say that all of us suffer from addiction. Nor am I reducing the meaning of addiction. I mean in all truth that the psychological, neurological, and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work within every human being...

"We are all addicts in every sense of the word. Moreover, our addictions are our own worst enemies. They enslave us with chains that are of our own making, yet paradoxically are virtually beyond our control.

"Addiction also makes idolaters of us all, because it forces us to worship these objects of attachment, thereby preventing us from truly, freely loving God and one another...

"Yet still, in another paradox, our addictions can lead us to a deep appreciation of grace. They can bring us to our knees."

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Posted April 14, 2010
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