What is the purpose of this message today? Why focus on what I no longer miss? Because today’s message is about what dies and what rises within each one of us. Luke 9 is the clearest, the sharpest, and the most recovery aligned call Jesus ever gives. It is a call to deny self. A call for us to take up our cross daily. A call to follow after Him. And it is one where we are asked to count the cost because it requires that we lose our life in order to save it. It is where we come to the end of ourselves, attempting to gain the appeasement of those around us, to gain what the world may offer us, yet lose our very soul in the process. It speaks directly to the “things I no longer miss” in my own addiction, codependency, chasing the girlies, and pretending to be someone I never was.

Welcome back, fellow travelers. If you haven’t watched the recent devotional in our Set of the Sail series— “The Lord Giveth Knowledge: The Spiritual Awakening of Christian Recovery”—I encourage you to do that. In that message, we talked about walking the crucified life… not coping, not managing, not surviving… but dying to self so that Christ may live fully in us. Having a real genuine spiritual awakening to the things of God.

Today, we’re going deeper. Because if we’re honest, many of us have spent years trying to “manage” life on life’s terms. But Sacred Sobriety is not about management. It’s about transformation. It’s about stepping boldly into the victory Christ already secured.

You and I have twenty‑four hours today. And I want to take a few of those minutes to speak directly to the wounds, addictions, anxieties, fears, and faith crises that have shaped us.

Because there are things I no longer miss. And I want to show you why.

Anchor Verse — Luke 9:23–26: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”

This is the heartbeat of recovery. This is the heartbeat of discipleship. This is the heartbeat of Sacred Sobriety.

Jesus is not calling us to cope. He is calling us to die— to ego, to self‑will, to the old patterns, to the old wounds, to the old survival strategies. And in that death… He calls us to live. To live a blessed and abundant life. To live with peace of mind and joy in our hearts. Yet to do this – he invites us in because we are heavy laden, weary travelers and are in much need of rest (Matthew 11:28-29).

Devotional Message

There were those times in my own life where it was shaped by fear, shame, confusion, and the constant dread of the next morning. A time when I wondered:

“How did I make it through?”

“What happened yesterday?”

“How am I going to make it through?”

“How much money did I spend?”

Maybe you’ve had similar experiences where you wondered how you got home, what you said, what you did, or even how to face those around you or even face the day. These moments can often feel like we are trapped in a cycle, endlessly questioning our choices, our actions, and the very fabric of our lives.

It’s not uncommon to find ourselves reflecting on past decisions, replaying them in our minds as if trying to extract meaning from them, to understand what went wrong. The feeling of confusion can sometimes seem so overwhelming that it clouds our judgment, making it difficult to see a way forward.

See folks, these are the things I personally do not miss. Not even a little. Because here is the truth. Those were not mere behaviors. They were underlying symptoms of a deeper issue. A deeper disease that kept me sick. They weren’t just fleeting thoughts or events; they were indicators of a larger struggle that I was battling, often in silence.

And you have heard oftentimes someone say that they decided to change simply because they got sick and tired of being sick and tired. That moment of realization is often a turning point. It is a sign that the discomfort has reached a threshold where we can no longer tolerate it. We start to recognize that change is not just necessary; it is possible. We can choose to break that cycle, to seek help, to reach out, and to confront those fears head-on.

The journey through this transformation can be daunting, but it leads us toward healing and a greater understanding of ourselves. Learning to navigate the complex emotions that fear, shame, and confusion bring can empower us to reclaim our lives. We begin to uncover the strength that resides within us, often igniting a passion for life we thought lost.

It’s essential to remember that if you’ve experienced this, you’re not alone. Many have walked a path similar to yours, and many have risen above the challenges that once felt insurmountable. The road to recovery and self-discovery may be long, but each step brings us closer to a future where we can thrive instead of merely survive.

And knowing that addiction is not merely chemical. Codependency is not merely emotional. Our anxiety is not merely psychological, or even our depression not merely circumstantial. All of these are spiritual disorders rooted in the very same lie: “I can run my own life better than God ever could.” And sometimes, it is not that we say this aloud, or in our own thoughts. It manifests in our inability to let go and surrender unto God.

This is where Luke 9 shatters that very illusion and pride. Christ confronts this lie head on when he says, “Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow Me.” Not because He wants to take something from us. It is because He wants to give us something we are never able to build on our own.

A new life. A new identity. A new freedom. A new power. A new future with the assurance of faith, hope, and charity.

The old self shrivels away. The new self-rises in its place. And that new self is created a new, created in the very image and likeness of God. See, God is restoring us for whom He alone created us to become.

Recovery Focus – “The Daily Cross”

One often hears that in recovery, the focus is one day at a time and sometimes one moment at a time. Jesus talks about us taking up our cross daily. And sometimes, I have had to take up my cross from one moment to another. These are not separate ideas though because they point to the same reality and truth: The cross is not punishment because it is a place of surrender. The cross is alignment as it is the death of our false self. Each and every day – we lay it down unto Him. And what are we laying down at the cross? What is it exactly we are nailing to the cross as the finality of this death to self?

Our need to control situations and people. Our need to be constantly right, respected, honored, validated, and worthwhile – and sometimes our need to be blessed because we are entitled to it. Our need to escape when life gets too much or too painful and therefore, we need to numb our distressing and painful memories, emotions, and the like. Our penchant needs to rescue and attempt to fix others, all the while we are running from our own pain.

Yet, every day, every moment of our day – within this twenty-four-hour period we have; we are rising to a place of thriving in our sobriety. We are rising with clarity of mind, or as Peter says, being of a sober mind (1 Peter 5:8). God gives us the courage and wisdom to know what we are capable of changing and then making those changes, and the understanding and insight regarding what we are not able to change. All of which requires humility, love, service, identity, and purpose. This is the heart of the spiritual awakening every Christian in recovery needs.

Wisdom & Grace – “The Gradual Elimination of Selfishness”

There is a meditation book – it is called The Little Black Book and is Twenty-Four-Hours a Day. Today’s selection reflects the following truth:

You cannot believe in a God and keep your selfish ways. The old self shrivels up and dies, and upon the re-born soul God’s image becomes stamped.

This is the process of sanctification, a process of discipleship – this is the heart of thriving in recovery and sobriety. We do not become Christlike overnight. However, the picture grows. The likeness sharpens. The grace deepens. And people begin to see something within us – something they are not able to explain, nor understand. Except those of us who are fellow traveler’s walking a path of recovery ourselves. And that is because something that looks like God’s power at work in a human life shine brightest toward those who are seeking relief, comfort, needing rescue and healing. And it is what Sacred Sobriety is all about. It is a path for our soul to renew, restore, heal, and revive our hearts and minds upon seeking and pursing God as He puts His heart upon us and pursues hard after us.

Thoughtful Reflection for Today

Take a moment and ask yourself:

What part of my old life do I still miss?

What part of my old identity am I still protecting?

What am I afraid of to surrender?

What new life is Christ attempting to give me that I keep pushing away?

Sit with these questions and allow the Holy Spirit to breathe and speak into your heart and mind today. Let the old self die and allow the new to arise because of Christ and the infinite atonement.

Call to Action: “Lose You Life to Save It”

Before we close today, I want to bring your heart to a moment of worship that has carried me through some of my hardest seasons. It’s a song by United Pursuit and Will Reagan called “Lay It All Down.”

The entire message of the song is simple, honest, and deeply aligned with Sacred Sobriety:

Bring everything — the worry, the grief, the shame, the anxious thoughts, the memories you can’t erase, the pain you can’t explain — and lay it at the feet of Jesus.

The song walks through the very things we carry in recovery:

• the exhaustion of pretending we’re okay
• the fear of facing another day
• the weight of our past
• the doubts that have become our gods
• the pain we can’t fix
• the memories that still sting
• the hope we’ve given up on

And the invitation is the same every time:

Lay it all down. Not some of it. Not the manageable parts. All of it. At the feet of Jesus.

This is the heart of Luke 9. This is the heart of recovery. This is the heart of discipleship.

You cannot carry the cross and carry your old life at the same time. You cannot walk in freedom while dragging chains you were never meant to hold. You cannot rise while clinging to what Christ is trying to crucify.

So today — right now — I want you to choose one thing you will lay down:

• a fear
• a resentment
• a secret
• a coping mechanism
• a memory
• a wound
• a habit
• a false identity

Name it. Release it. Lay it down at the feet of Jesus.

Because He is the only One strong enough to carry it… and the only One gentle enough to heal what it broke.

From Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thought for the Day: “Some more things I do not miss since becoming dry: wondering if the car is in the garage… struggling to remember where I was… trying to delay getting off to work… dreading the day ahead of me.”

You don’t miss those things. And you never will again.

Meditation for the Day: “The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and others is the goal of life.”

Prayer for the Day: “I pray that I may develop that faint likeness I have to the Divine. I pray that others may see in me some of the power of God’s grace at work.”