Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Forget religion. Forget world religions. Forget atheists in foxholes. Forget what’s fair. This is the key to the 12-step program; everything builds upon this.

There are really only two kinds of people in the world. Those who insist on meeting God on their own terms, and those who realize He insists on meeting them on His; and realizing that His terms are beyond their ability to perform, they meet Him on their knees, knowing their sin, and crying out for His mercy. That’s it. It’s all in the attitude of the heart.

This is why AA and the Twelve Steps work, because they take a person to their knees and beyond. Beyond, is where we live every day, with an everyday awareness of our need for a savior and holding onto His grace. This is also why we keep coming back. We keep coming back because we need to be reminded who’s in charge and where our power comes from. We are not groveling. We are learning to stand up, but with a posture of grace.

That is to say we don’t crawl around on our knees, but we are on our knees in our hearts, aware that He is the source of the power that we need to follow Him. This is why we champion AA and the twelve steps because they embrace this reality about us and God, and help us apply it daily to our lives.

It’s all about posturing. It’s the posture of the heart that keeps us internally on our knees depending on Him for everything. We stand up tall in the world, in the knowledge of His love for us and the gifts He has given us, but we are bowing deep in our hearts, aware that nothing comes from us and everything comes from God. This is the posture of grace.

God loves us and He wants us on His team, but we are the ones getting the deal. And my, are we fortunate! He provides us with everything we need for life and godliness if we just humbly follow Him moment by moment, one day at a time.