Walking in the Light: Embracing Spiritual Growth

Just as physical blemishes need exposure to light for healing, our spiritual imperfections require us to bring them to the surface for transformation. This process is akin to Step 10 in the 12-step program, where we take a daily inventory of our actions and attitudes, allowing the toxic elements within us to be revealed and addressed. [00:02:33]

Disgust is a deep area of study in Psychology. Behaviors, objects, customs, and so on that are considered taboo, and the people experience disgust over, and that was one of them. Cooper does not yet experience disgust. In fact, he actually experiences delight where he should experience disgust. [00:03:13]

Most people avoid self-appraisal and pay a price for it. It's called mediocrity at best. This is as he is looking at step 10. One of my favorite stories comes from author Gregory Knox Jones. Many years ago, the British came up with the idea of building a golf course in Kolkata, India. [00:04:57]

Life presents us with a difficult syllabus. To live happily, we need to be adaptable, cultivate resilience, and regularly practice self-reflection. Regularly taking step 10 will teach you to accept and work with your life as it is, even when you do not like where the monkey dropped it. [00:06:23]

The idea behind step 10 is we are not cured from our problem of estrangement from God and our attachment to Ego, sin, self. Well, we have at best a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. So welcome to the Daily reprieve, one day at a time. [00:07:27]

At the end of the day, we take a personal inventory to review the events of the hours just passed. You can do this however you want to. As I've told you often, I'm so sleepy at the end of the day I kind of have to do it in the morning, although I'd still like to get there. [00:08:01]

Whatever selfishness, dishonesty, resentments, or fear crop up, we ask God and want to remove them. We discuss them with somebody immediately, making in quickly if we have harmed someone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. This is so good. [00:09:12]

Behind the words and actions of other people, there is a story that I will never know. I was thinking of a person that I know where this is many years ago. There was a response they made to a situation that I thought was not very mature, and that could make me pretty frustrated. [00:10:05]

Step 10 and the actions involved with it are actually the great Pathway to life together with Jesus in his kingdom. Paul T has this wonderful book, Guilt and Grace. He was a great Swiss doctor and therapist and Wise Wise person, and he writes about really this all goes back to having a very robust step one. [00:10:54]

There is this great reversal in scripture. Turner writes God prefers the poor, the weak, the despised. What religious people have much more difficulty in admitting is that he prefers Sinners to the righteous. You put quote marks around both those words Sinners and righteous. [00:11:25]

Everywhere Jesus defends despised people because the worse your story with him, the warmer your welcome, and we come back to him and we come back together. Keep coming back. It works if you work it. You got to play it where the monkey throws it. [00:12:17]

We are a community that's dedicated to Growing spiritually in Christ one day at a time, and a big part of that is prayer. So there's a team of us that meet each weekday, Monday through Friday, to pray for become new and for viewers just like yourself. [00:13:11]