Step Three offers another way. We make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. This is more than asking Him to help us stop one behavior. It is a recognition that the whole of our lives belongs to Him. Recovery becomes more stable when surrender moves beyond crisis management and begins shaping the way we live.
Because we bear God’s image, surrender does not diminish our dignity. It restores us to the truth of who we are. The more fully we belong to Him, the less power addiction, compulsions, and unhealthy attachments have to tell us what we need or who we have become.
Jesus also refuses to let His opponents’ trap control the conversation. They want to force Him into a false choice, but He remains focused on what is truly important. Recovery requires the same clarity. We can spend enormous emotional energy proving a point or defending ourselves, only to realize that the argument has little to do with the life God is asking us to live. A useful question is whether something actually deserves the spiritual attention we are giving it.
This is one reason primary purpose is so important in recovery communities. We gather because we share a common need for healing and a common solution rooted in God, the Twelve Steps, and honest fellowship. We do not have to agree about every outside issue in order to help one another grow in freedom. Keeping our purpose clear protects the unity that makes recovery possible.
The first reading offers another reminder of God’s sovereignty. The Lord works through Cyrus, a king who does not even know Him, saying, “I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not” (Isaiah 45:4). God is not limited to the people or circumstances we would have chosen. At times, grace arrives through an unexpected person or an unwanted consequence. Recovery teaches us to become more open to the possibility that God is working even when the situation does not look the way we expected.
Saint Paul gives us a picture of what this kind of surrender can produce. He remembers the Thessalonians for their “work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). These are not abstract ideas. Faith becomes visible in how we live. Love becomes something we practice. Hope gives us strength to keep going when change comes slowly.
Recovery helps us remember whose image we bear and whose life this ultimately is. We do not belong to addiction or to the fear of what others think of us. We belong to God. The more clearly we remember that, the easier it becomes to recognize what deserves our attention and what can be released. Real freedom grows as we place ourselves back into His hands and become more faithful to the life He has entrusted to us.
Reflection Questions
- Where are you still tempted to act as though some part of your life belongs entirely to you rather than to God?
- What has helped you stay focused on your primary purpose when distractions, conflict, or other people’s opinions begin consuming too much of your attention?
- Where have you experienced greater freedom by placing something back into God’s hands rather than continuing to manage it on your own?
Sunday Mass Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21
Reflection by Scott W.