Step One - My Life Is Unmanageable

Why do we continue to do things our own way when it obviously isn’t working?  Doing life on our own without God has led us to empty, lonely, and shame-filled places. That’s what Step 1 of the 12 Steps reminds us:

Step One – We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies and that our lives had become unmanageable.

In order for us to understand just how unmanageable our life is without God and how powerless we are to fix ourselves, the Bible uses a clear picture that contrasts a fountain of fresh flowing water with an old container – a cistern – that is dirty and cracked and doesn’t even hold the rain water that has flowed into it. 

God explains, “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”  Jeremiah 2:13

We’ve responded to our felt needs with defective short-term solutions and ended up with a more frustrating level of need. God desires to provide power and guidance through His Holy Spirit, so we can have a peaceful and meaningful life that is fruitful and satisfying. 

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  John 7:37-38

Loving God, we admit again today that we need something more than we’ve found on our own.  We don’t want our lives to be stale or chaotic in any way and so we ask You to work in us again today so we live in honesty about where we are at, where we are in trouble, and that we truly are powerless to change ourselves.   

Please give us the courage and strength to look for You and Your will today and then to follow Your direction in all our affairs. Amen

So the starting place, admitting that we can’t fix ourselves and a willingness to look for who might be able to help us. 

Today’s challenge:  try telling God what you need and that You want to know what God is offering to people like you and I.  Ask God to show You more and, if you dare, even to fill you up today with His truth and power. 

And then that’s where the next steps help us to understand how to move forward from here.  I encourage you to come back next time.