Step 6 - A Reliable Remedy For Discontent

Where do we feel discontent with life today? What signs pop up from day to day that something is still not quite right in us?  With God’s help we identify these issues and make our lives available for Hiim to work in us so they are changed.

This is what Step Six of the Twelve Steps looks like in our daily living. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.  This radical honesty and clear eyed view of what’s going on in us is named in this prayer we find in the Bible.

Keep me from cheating and telling lies.  Be kind to me and teach me your law.  I have chosen to be faithful to you.  I put my trust in your laws. Psalm 119:29-30

Character defects are often developed through many years of struggling to survive.  We tend to feel at home with what is familiar to us, even while desiring a better life. Many of our familiar ways weren’t and still aren’t good for us. 

God wants us to have the best life possible and knows that some things need to go in order for us to achieve that.  God is willing to give us the desire and the power to complete the task.  God will not only help us defeat our fear of change but will enable us to become willing to have Him remove all our defects of character so we can progress further than we ever thought possible.   

We read a lovely picture in the Bible as God describes helping us move forward on this journey.

God said: I taught Ephraim to walk.  I took them up in my arms.  But they did not realize I was the one who took care of them. I led them with kindness and love. I was to them like a person who lifts a little child to their cheek.  I bent down and fed them.  Hosea 11:3-4

Little children need to be cared for and guided. As they submit to this loving attention of their parent, harmful childish desires are put away and more healthy mature behaviours become ingrained in them.

Today and every day we are in the process of having character defects removed more and more.  They only slip away as we surrender ourselves to the ways of God, inviting His help to change our thinking and enabling us to choose His ways. We are changing our ways and new life is developing in us every time we ask God to remove a character defect rather than acting on it. 

Here's a lovely simple prayer from the Bible that is appropriate for this, I think:

Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!  Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. Psalm 86:11

And in our own simple words we pray: Gracious God, we are entirely ready to have You remove all our defects of character, particularly those we are conscious of today.  Give us humble and trusting hearts as we live in Your care.  Amen

Where do we feel discontent with life today? What signs have popped up recently that something is still not quite right in us?  That’s the place to start putting this principle into practice today.