Humbly Ask

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

There are some things in this step we need to understand. I believe there are two important words we must grasp to be successful in carrying the instructions of Step 7. I understand the 12- Steps are meant for addiction recovery, but they are an excellent way for life in general. You don’t have to be an addict to benefit from them. So, let’s look at Step-7 from both an addict's viewpoint and a nonaddict’s viewpoint. Before we go any further let’s define two important words in this step. First, what are our shortcomings? A shortcoming is a fault, flaw, or failure to reach a required standard or expectation. The second word is humbly. Humbly is an adverb that means doing something without pride, arrogance, or a sense of self-importance.

Throughout life we fall short of the mark. We are imperfect people who live in an imperfect world. In looking at our shortcomings we must fight against the urge to see our shortcomings through a worldly lens. If we do, we can justify our shortcomings as not being that bad. So we need to change the lens we are looking through and view our shortcomings through the lens of God’s Word. We need to look at our shortcomings as an offense to God, not our fellow human beings. In humbly asking God to remove our shortcomings we address a few of them right from the start. We must come to God without pride, arrogance, and a sense of self-importance, which are possibly the root of many other shortcomings. So we must humble ourselves before God. Not just one day, but all days of our life.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Jesus is faithful and just. Because of this we can trust Him in removing our shortcomings. The struggle may not miraculously go away, so we must continue to humbly ask. Jesus will honor our humble request. In confessing our shortcomings, which is a watered down version for sin, Jesus has promised forgiveness. This forgiveness comes through the blood He shed on the cross for each of us. If we are honest, we will admit that we are an unrighteous people. Again this will take putting away our pride, arrogance, and self-importance. Our righteousness is found in Jesus. Through Him we are declared righteous before God. So let us humbly ask Jesus to remove our shortcomings.