Drop the Rock: What Steps 6 and 7 Actually Require of You

There's a moment in the Gospel of John where Jesus walks up to a man who has been unable to walk for decades, looks him in the eye, and asks what should be the easiest question in the world: "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6)

You'd expect an immediate yes. Instead, the man starts making excuses. He doesn't have anyone to help him into the healing pool. Someone always beats him to it. He talks around the question, never actually answering it. He'd grown so comfortable with his condition, so identified with his problems, that a life without them had become genuinely unimaginable.

Contrast that with the blind man in Luke 18. When he hears that Jesus is passing by, he starts crying out. People tell him to be quiet. He cries out louder. Nothing is going to stop him. When Jesus asks what he wants, the man doesn't hesitate for a second: "Lord, I want to see."

Two men. Two very different answers to the same basic question: What do you truly want?

That question sits at the heart of Steps 6 and 7.

---

Willingness Is Not Willpower

Step 6 reads: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step 7 follows: We humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings.

The first thing worth noting is what these steps are not about. They are not about willpower. If willpower were enough, none of us would have the problems we have. If willpower alone could pull someone out of the pit, they would have climbed out already. As the saying goes: if your "self" could have saved your "self," wouldn't your "self" have done it already? (Ian Cron, The Fix)

Willingness is something different. It's not about muscling through on your own. It's about becoming ready, truly ready, to let God do the work that you cannot do for yourself.

---

The Tools That Became Weapons

These steps talk about "defects of character" and "shortcomings," but it's worth understanding what that actually means. We're not just talking about a list of sins. Sometimes, the things holding us back were once genuinely useful.

All of us developed coping mechanisms when we were younger, behaviors and instincts that protected us, that helped us survive. But those tools don't always age well. A healthy sense of self can harden into pride. The drive to provide can curdle into greed. Righteous anger at injustice can fester into wrath. Rest can slide into avoidance and laziness. The very things that once served us become the weights around our necks.

That's the image that captures it best. There's a story told in recovery circles about a woman who jumps into the water to reach her boat, but she's wearing a giant rock on a necklace. She's flailing, barely keeping her head above water, and everyone on the boat is shouting the same thing: drop the rock. She finally does, and suddenly she can swim, making it to the boat safely.

What's the rock you're carrying? What formerly served a purpose but is now dragging you under?

Step 6 is about getting honest enough to name it. Step 7 is about asking God to take it.

---

Mostly Ready vs. Entirely Ready

Here's where the language of Step 6 gets specific and demanding. It doesn't say "mostly ready." It says entirely ready.

That gap matters more than it sounds. Mostly ready is the man at the pool, who is 95% of the way there but still has a drawer full of excuses. Mostly ready is what Saint Augustine was praying when he famously said, "Lord, make me chaste, but not yet." Mostly ready means tomorrow is always the better day to start.

Entirely ready says today is day one.

The blind man in Luke 18 was entirely ready. He wasn't going to let the crowd silence him. He wasn't going to let his circumstances define him. He knew what he wanted, he knew who could give it to him, and he was not going to let anything stand in the way.

That's the posture Steps 6 and 7 are asking for.

---

Humility, Not Humiliation

Step 7 adds a crucial word: humbly. We humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.

There's a difference between humility and humiliation. Humiliation is what the prodigal son experienced when he found himself wishing he could eat the pig slop. Humility is what happens when you choose to hand over the reins before it gets to that point.

C.S. Lewis put it well: humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. It's recognizing that you are not the one in the driver's seat, and that's actually good news.

1 Peter 5 puts it plainly: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Pride is the thing that keeps us from letting God do his work. Humility is what opens the door.

And here's the thing, humility and boldness are not opposites. Hebrews 4 tells us to approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. We can come before God confidently, not because we've earned anything, but because he has already promised to give grace to those who ask.

---

Trust the Process

Change doesn't happen overnight. There's a story in Mark 8 where Jesus heals a blind man, and the first pass doesn't quite take. The man says he can see people, but they look like trees walking around. So Jesus tries again, and this time the man sees clearly.

Even healing can be a process. Neurons that fire together wire together, which means the old paths are well-worn and the new ones take time to form. Romans 12 calls it the renewing of your mind. Ezekiel calls it a heart transplant, trading a heart of stone for a heart of flesh.

It is going to take time. It may not be comfortable. But the invitation is real, and the help is available.

So the question comes back around: Do you want to get well? Are you entirely ready, or just mostly? And what rock do you need to finally let go of?

Ask. Seek. Knock. And let God do the rest.