12 STEPS - Step 3
/STEP 3
Made a decision to turn our life and will over to the care of God as we understand him.
A CRITICAL POINT
The most critical juncture of my recovery came at the point of surrender. It was, and daily is, an act of trusting in God rather than depending upon myself. Every moment I have a choice to choose sinful self-autonomy or to choose a surrendered worship of God. In Step 3, Jesus, through his lovingkindness, extends to us the offer to receive and worship his glory as opposed to our own (Ro. 1: 18-25). In this glory, God offers us himself (Col. 1: 27). The offer of himself to us is the gift and beauty of Step 3. Step 3 is not about gaining a temporal earthly beneficial outcome, but rather an eternal satisfaction - the security, love, and eternal awesomeness of a trustworthy God (which by the way comforts us with his presence now and throughout our lives as we move towards our eternal redemption). He doesn’t just leave us here to wait for some day to come without caring for us (2 Cor. 7:10, Ro. 8: 18-35). In summary, God promises to care for us now and in our future redemption.
IS IT WORTH IT
Step 3 can sound like a buzz-kill, killjoy, or an unfulfilling oppression because we are so fixated and consumed with the elevation of our addictions, while we simultaneously diminish the glory of God extended to us. During the bridge between Step 2 and Step 3, we hesitate, doubt, and question - “Well, what about… [blank]” (we could all fill in the blank). For sex addicts, maybe it’s the fear of not being able to feel the rush of ‘intimacy’ and the high of climax. For the control addict, maybe it’s the fear that my spouse or children may decide to leave me.
GREATER REWARD
Yes, those are potential losses, but Jesus, the God we surrender our wills and lives over to, says “that whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it and that those who lose their life in this world for his sake will keep it for eternal life” (John 12: 25-26). Please, don’t take these truths as insensitive, but rather as compassionate and restorative! God is not asking you to surrender your life and will over to his care so that you experience his Lordship in some sort of cold and joyless existence without pleasure - that’s anti-gospel and anti-God.
The heavy yet encouraging reality in taking up Step 3 is that God will call you to walk through seasons of suffering, which will include persecution, loneliness, depression, more anxiety, and losses (John 17), but it is okay. By faith and through his power we can take the initial and forthcoming daily steps of surrender, while trusting God in both the present and future difficulties of life, and knowing that God has amazing promises for you to experience with him and with other believers in a life given over to him. As further encouragement, we can surely trust him to reward us for the afflictions endured in surrender to him when all suffering has passed (Psalm 34: 10, Phil. 4: 11-13, Mat. 5: 11).
WHAT TO CLING TO
Know this as well, clumsy and flailing child of God, even though we will at times still in our own power attempt to mitigate the effects of life’s challenges, in an effort to avoid surrendering to God for a myriad of reasons, the grace and love of God will still care for us. We only need to take the step, the third step, and see that he is good (Psalm 34: 8)!
As you mature and grow, the natural result will be the benefits of sobriety, which will flow from his power working in your life through his love. Fall deeper in love with the glory and power of this God, as you understand him, then joy and satisfaction will abound regardless of your circumstances, losses, or sufferings.
