Denial - Sin or Self?

Last night, we were meeting for our Celebrate Recovery leadership team, and going through a dry-run of the first nights large group meeting. The first night is about "Denial".

One of the gentlemen in our leadership team, is a LPC in chemical dependencies and addictions, so I'm sure he has many of these "normal" object lesson stories, but this really hit me hard, and made me sit there and smile, realizing how exactly right his description was to my own circumstances of life. So let me try to re-tell the story for you.

Ok, just image we are all sitting around in a circle at my house (like we used to do) and lets say, the carpet below us is my life. I can move from here to there, left and right, around in circles, back and forth, stay on this side for a while, then move over here for a while, living my life. Doing what God has planned out for me to do. Except, I have the false sense of reality over here in my chair. Yes the brown one I always sit in. Its my chair. Here I find fulfillment of life, everything seems clearer from here, there's not any problems or struggles here in my chair, matter fact, life seems real easy here, and real comfortable. When I'm in pain, depressed, angry, struggling, tired, hurt.... I have my chair to sit down in and just rest and feel like there's nothing wrong. Its the false-life, b/c the chair itself does not really provide these feelings, its just a fantasy world of comfort.
Now everyone around can say, Steve, just get up, stop sitting there. Stop doing that, you don't need to be there, get up and "move around in life". Its as easy as that right? So I get up for a while, standing there, not really sure of which way to go... Should I go towards the front door? Or the kitchen? Maybe I'll just stand here for a while. And then I realize something. I say to myself, what am I doing. I'm so tired. This is so stupid. I have the fear of the future, not sure of what getting up looks like, feels like or acts like. But there is one thing I do know, that has brought me comfort in the past (or at least I thought it was comfortable, maybe just easy) I think I'll sit back down in my chair. Ahhh... Much better. This is what I know. Its easy for me. It brings me peace...Doesn't it?
No. Its the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and over again, expecting different results. It doesn't really bring about comfort or peace in our lives, but the denial of what its really doing, remove the feelings and pain that's brought about by the constant, habitual acts that are pulling us out of the life God has planned for us. We are not only not seeing God's way of life, we are fogging over, confusing our understanding, and creating our own "real life" in a world filled with pain, addictions, hurts, habits and hang-ups. They will never fulfill our need, they will never leave us satisfied... Oh maybe for a while, but days later, the pain and the hurt or the habit will return with greater power and a continual lust for more.

So I asked myself this last night, and I ask you this question: What is your chair? What is it we are holding onto, in fear of letting go? Not knowing where we'll end up, or how we will be used? Why do we keep going back to "my chair"?

I am excited about this ministry. Because of the hope in Jesus Christ for those of us out there clinging on to our chair in life.