Books that have enriched my devotional life

Ernest Kurtz. A.A.: The Story. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.

A.A.: The Story is a thoroughly documented history of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). Al though I knew something of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, before I read this book I knew little of the fascinating roots of that organization.

"Ebby," the man who sparked in Bill Wilson's alcohol-numbed brain the idea that led to this ministry, had found temporary deliverance from alcoholism through religion, receiving help from the evangelical, nondenominational Oxford group (today known as Moral Re- Armament). He testified of his conversion while seated at Bill's kitchen table and later planted a fundamental concept in Bill's mind while Bill was lying in a drunken stupor on a hospital bed: "Realize you are licked, admit it, and. . . turn your life over to the care of God." ¹

That principle, basic to A.A.'s pro gram, helps explain how a book dealing with the history of the A. A. phenomenon enriched my devotional life. The principles that organization espouses apply to all who are willing to admit they are sinners and in need of God's grace.

A corollary principle A. A. teaches its members is that "they are not infinite, not absolute, not God."² My own heart needed to be reminded of this principle. As preachers, we too often play God. Doing so has borne tragic fruit in the lives of some very popular ministers in the last couple of years.

A. A. teaches alcoholics that they must admit at the very start that they are not in control, even of themselves. This admission of their total powerlessness over alcohol and that their lives had be come unmanageable is a pivotal point in A.A.'s Twelve Steps. In Christianity, a similar admission is a pivotal point in becoming and staying a true follower of Jesus Christ. Christians cannot smugly sit back and condemn the alcoholic when they realize that every person with an obsessive/compulsive behavioral problem needs help--whether it involves eating, criticizing, sexual indulgence, exaggeration, or love of ease.

When Bill Wilson reached this point of total self-surrender, something happened. In describing it, he said, "Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. I was caught up into an ecstasy which there are no words to describe. It seemed to me, in the mind's eye, that I was on a mountain and that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man.

Slowly the ecstasy subsided. I lay on the bed, but now for a time I was in another world, a new world of consciousness. All about me and through me there was a wonderful feeling of Presence, and I thought to myself, So this is the God of the preachers! A great peace stole over me and I thought, No matter how wrong things seem to be, they are all right. Things are all right with God and His world.'' ³

I am convinced that the A. A. group has a better understanding of the role and importance of witnessing than do most Christians. When Wilson first shared his story with Dr. Bob Smith, cofounder of A.A., Smith identified an important secret in helping an alcoholic overcome drinking. Although both men were involved with the Oxford group, Smith had failed to gain the victory over alcohol, and he wondered what made the difference between himself and Bill. It was the act of sharing. When Smith finally realized the difference, he stated, "The spiritual approach was as useless as any other if you soaked it up like a sponge and kept it to yourself." ⁴ It is in the process of giving that alcoholics get the blessing of victory over drinking.

I immediately thought of Revelation 12:11, which declares that God's followers conquer the enemy "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony."

Restitution, which is one of the Twelve Steps, is little talked about in Christian circles today. When Smith finally came to grips with his problem, he began making visits to his creditors and those whom he had harmed by his behavior. According to Kurtz, Smith made his confession to each one and planned a practical program of restitution.

Weaned from human support

In the A. A. program, the total dependence on a Higher Power is developed from various angles. In the early beginnings of A. A., Wilson and his wife, Lois, took in problem drinkers in an attempt to salvage them. They met with little success. They reached an important conclusion that Wilson stated succinctly: "Lois and I continued to find that if we permit ted alcoholics to become too dependent on us they were apt to stay drunk." ⁵

This insight struck me with tremendous force. I recently read a review of Jeffrey Masson's controversial book Against Therapy. The reviewer quoted Masson as saying, "The therapeutic relationship always involves an imbalance of power. One person pays; the other receives. Vacations, time, duration of the sessions are all in the hands of one party. Only one person is thought to be an 'ex pert' in human relations and feelings. Only one person is thought to be in trouble." ⁶

Could it be that one of the reasons we see so little progress in the lives of the individuals who seek counsel regarding their problems from ministers, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists is that they become too dependent upon their helpers?

Chapter 7 of the book Alcoholics Anonymous emphasizes several times the principle of depending upon God and not on anyone else. "Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house."

In response to the claims of some alcoholics that they cannot master their problem until their material needs are cared for, A. A. directs the following answer: "Nonsense. Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: job or no job--wife or no wife--we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God." And again: "Remind the prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God."

The forthright statement of this concept of dependence upon God encouraged me to trust my Lord more fully and would help every reader who will practice it daily.

Another insight reinforced a discovery I had also made--that of the one-day-at-a-time principle. A. A. encourages its members to think in terms of victory for the moment, for today. Overcoming is not for next month, next week, or to morrow, but for now!

This concept applies to all phases of living. It relates not only to overcoming temptation but to the joy of living, the joy of interacting with spouse, children, neighbors, and friends. In the Christian experience, it is what we do today in terms of Bible study, prayer, and witnessing that puts muscle into the character.

I like the idea that the only prerequisite for membership in A. A. is a desire to stop drinking. What would happen if the only prerequisite for membership in a Christian church was a desire to stop sinning! What a power the Christian faith would become if, by the grace of God, victory over sin through surrender and a relationship with Jesus Christ became a reality! Seeing that we have something that works, the non-Christian masses around us would flock to our churches.

The insights this book provides into Bill Wilson's character are heartwarming. He was a man who was always reaching out for unattainable goals. Like all of us, he had times of depression and discouragement as well as times of joy and victory. Although he faced seemingly impossible odds, he fought through to victory, developing a program that has helped millions who were among the most hopeless of earth's population.

As I read about the difficulties Wilson encountered as he struggled to create a program to help alcoholics, I began to appreciate deeply his dedication. He spent his whole life exploring every possible avenue to helping an alcoholic overcome. Every Christian ought to emulate the intensity of spirituality and commitment revealed in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous!

For me, this book brought spiritual renewal, and I recommend it to my readers.

Learning from a divorce

Patti Roberts, with Sherry Andrews. Ashes to Gold. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1983. ⁷

It was only a 170-page paperback found in a stack of discarded reading material in an apartment house. If I had ever heard of the book, I had forgotten about it. My wife read most of this little book to me while we were traveling via automobile to several speaking appointments.

In the book Patti Roberts tells the story of her divorce from Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts' son. Every couple planning to get married--and especially those who are entering a religious ministry--ought to read its tragic, gripping message. In a world where divorce has become epidemic the same forces that destroyed Patti's marriage threaten every other marriage. Patti's insights, not only on married life but on life in general, brought my wife and me to a renewed determination to have the closer relationship with our Lord that will bring us closer to each other.

The following statement, taken from the book, sums up quite well the thrust of Patti's story: "I'm not just divorcing Richard, but a whole realm that puts religious achievement and lifestyle above sanctity of life. I'm divorcing the end-justifies- the-means theory. I'm divorcing the belief that products are more important than people. I'm divorcing the god of family image. . . . I'm divorcing the preference for public prayers over private penitence. I'm divorcing the person who had never learned that 'a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one.'. .. I'm divorcing the mentality that caused the last act of this marriage to be handled with the publicity value in mind. Oh, dear God, help me to the other side." ⁸

Most of the rest of the book details the various points made in this paragraph. The book's insights could be summarized as follows:

1. Naively, Patti assumed that since Richard was close to the Oral Roberts University, to Oral himself, and to Jesus, therefore everything would be fine, and both of them would do wonderful things for God. She found out that position, power, and being related to a religious institution does not guarantee a happy marriage.

2. Patti learned that if service for God preempts knowing Him on a personal basis, problems will result. God is more interested in our relationship with Him than in our position. Patti sums up this idea in the words "a person could do all of the right things and still have a heart far removed from God." Patti's book makes it clear that Richard and she depended on their ministry to sustain their spiritual life. They spent eight to ten hours every day in a thoroughly Christian environment. They sang and prayed together on TV. She concludes, "It was easy for us to be lulled into believing that we didn't need to spend time together in private devotions. It was a subtle trap and one that all those who work in full-time, paid minis try have to guard against." ⁹

3. Patti unfortunately assumed that if Richard and she loved each other enough and both of them loved the Lord enough, their marriage would automatically be protected and their happiness ensured. She found out it doesn't work that way. Love certainly is of primary importance, but maintaining a successful marriage requires planning and work. As ministers, we should use premarital counseling to help those we wed avoid this pitfall.

4. From her experience Patti concludes that when we don't know what to do, it is better to wait on the Lord than to try to do something. The promise of James 1:5 eventually became a reality in her experience: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, . . . and it shall be given him." Her ringing testimony is that God is faithful and He will direct us in no uncertain terms.

5. Another insight, one that is obvious but that bears repeating, is that major problems begin with minor irritations. If these irritations are not dealt with quickly and constructively, they bring unnecessary pain. Patti says, "That is so obvious that it seems incredible that we could not have seen it. But it is the obvious things in life that we most often over look."

Second place in your life

6. Closely related to the idea of working at a marriage is the matter of where a couple places the family in their list of priorities. All couples who are involved in fishbowl-type jobs need to note this point carefully. Patti writes, "Neither of us was mature enough to see that we needed some time just for ourselves, and neither of us had a clear biblical under standing of the importance God places on family relationships. We sincerely, but wrongly, believed that ministry was the most important thing. So we built our marriage on the sand of wrong teaching. We created a public image and then worked very hard to make our private lives match it. But, unfortunately, . . . our relationship never grew beyond what we presented to the public." ¹⁰

Patti's experience is not unique. In how many cases do ministers and others in public service injure or destroy their marriages by putting their work before their families. At the moment, I can think of several ministerial families that have been shattered because of failure to understand this point. God must have first place in the hearts of the minister and spouse, but the organization or structure for which we work must not take the second place--we must reserve that place for our families! If the family constitutes the most important unit in a church, how important it is for the minister to have a family life that is worthy of emulation by the members he or she serves.

Listen to Patti's powerful description of this concept: "If Satan can attack the relationship between men and women in marriage, he can attack one of the most important laboratories for Christ's relationship to the church. That is why it is so vital for the church to understand the importance of the commitment involved in the sacrament of marriage.

"It is one of Satan's foundational battle plans to keep these issues shrouded. If he can keep us locked into ego battles, simmering over women's rights versus men's rights, confused by tributary social issues, then he can keep us from pulling ourselves and our mates upright and seeing the grander issues. If I cannot bear true submission to my spouse and if he cannot reconcile himself to losing him self and all that he has for my benefit, how can we hope to actually bow in sub mission, loyalty, and love before Jesus. (I do not mean to imply that marriage is the only way to accomplish this. Certainly God can and does make provision for the single believer, but marriage is the norm for most people.)

"Any person who places ministry above marriage has, at best, an incomplete understanding of the significance of marriage in God's eternal plans. When this flip-flop of priorities occurs it is a wonder that the skies don't thunder, 'Let not man put asunder. . . ' "

The final chapter in Patti's book, "The True Christian Marriage," brought tremendous conviction to our hearts and lives. This is a book worth reading carefully.