Step 6 - We were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character

Eze 18:21  But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Eze 18:22  All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.
Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn from his ways, and live?
Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.
Eze 18:25  Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
Eze 18:26  When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die.
Eze 18:27  Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
Eze 18:28  Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Mat 3:1  In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 
Mat 3:2  And saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
Mat 3:3  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying,  The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 

When John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus, he told the people to repent or "make a 180" as we would say in todays vernacular. They were to turn away from their sins in order to be prepared for the Messiah. This we must do also in order to live daily with the Messiah who came, Jesus the Lord. In step 6, we repent of our sins - all of our known sins and not just our addictive behaviors - that we have uncovered in step 4 and confessed in step 5. In this way we can be prepared to also live faithfully with the Messiah on a day-to-day basis. 

Rom 6:8  Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 
Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him. 
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God. 
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 
Rom 6:13  Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. 

The entire chapter of Romans 6 talks of our new life in Christ following a baptism into the likeness of His death. Christ died and then rose again and death has no more dominion over Him. In the same way, as Christians we are to die to sin so that it will not have dominion over us. As addicts, this means that we are to die to those things that once enticed and seduced us. Through the previous steps we should have discovered what this dying means exactly for us in our personal life. We now yield our body to righteousness instead of to the sin of our addictive behaviors. This chapter of Romans makes clear and we also know from experience that this dying to sin is a continual process - "a day at a time", as the 12 step saying goes. We become servants of doing what is right and good and in that we find the freedom that we could never have had in our addictive behaviors. 

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 
Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 
Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 
Eph 4:20  But you have not so learned Christ; 
Eph 4:21  If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 
Eph 4:22  That you put off concerning the former way of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 
Eph 4:24  And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

The apostle Paul is telling us as Christians as he did to the Ephesians to make our walk with Christ consistent. We are to discard the defects of character that alienate us from God, for it was not through these defects that we learned Christ. Having completed the 4th and 5th steps, we know that the life of the old man was indeed corrupt through deceitful lusts. We are admonished to put these old things away and to put on the new man and be renewed in our mind instead. That is why God originally created us as He did - to live in righteousness and true holiness. 

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 
Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience: 
Col 3:7  In which you also once walked, when you lived in them. 
Col 3:8  But now you also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy talk out of your mouth. 
Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; 
Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 
Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 
Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. 

One of the difficult things about getting rid of our addictive behaviors is that they are often wrapped up in so many other parts of our character and habits. In our lives we have learned to accept many character defects in conjunction with our addictive behaviors. Although lying or stealing may not have been our primary addiction, we may have learned to lie or steal or any of a host of other character defects in order to conceal the tracks of our addictive behaviors. By step 6 we have made an inventory and "come clean" with ourselves, our God and someone else about all of these incidents in our lives. Step 6 is about our willingness to not only give up our addictive behaviors, but also all of the character defects that surround them. Of course, this does not make it a "done deal". We will always need to be vigilant against our defects of character. But as Christians, we are called to continually give them up, as outlined in this passage. In that way we will not only be free of our character defects but it will guard against our falling back into our addictive behaviors. 

1Th 1:6  And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit: 
1Th 1:7  So that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 
1Th 1:8  For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak anything. 
1Th 1:9  For they themselves show of us what manner of welcome we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 
1Th 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. 

In this passage, we see how the Thessalonians willingly turned from their idols to actively serve the true God through Christ Jesus, even to the point of having "much affliction". Yet at the same time, there was "joy of the Holy Spirit". In our addictive behaviors, we also were serving idols, and in the sixth step we make a decision that we want to give up all of the things that led to that idolatry, to have God remove these defects of our character. The Thessalonians give us an example of doing this willingly and afterwards being an example to many others of what it meant to live faithfully with God.    

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and power was given unto it to scorch men with fire. 
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 
Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. 

This passage from Revelation is revealing in that it shows how stubbornly people can hold on to their idols. The judgement of God is coming upon people here for their wicked deeds. But the judgement of God in this case does not lead to repentance. It leads only to more wickedness in blasphemy and cursing of God. The lesson for us as addicts is to not be like this. We have lived in wicked deeds before God. We have made something into an idol that was never meant to have that much power in our lives, whether it was alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, food, money, status, a certain appearance, unhealthy relationships or any of a host of other traps in our world. By the sixth step we should be fairly aware of how these things have harmed us and brought the judgement of God upon our lives. Instead of being like those who perished in judgement in this passage, we can learn from our mistakes, repent of our deeds and of our thinking of the past and find protection and peace in the love and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.