Commit Yourself

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. - Luke 12:48b (KJV) 

There is something that we all struggle with or we have a reputation for avoiding. It is something that we are called to, and something that we must all do at some point in our lives. It is commitment.


According to Merriam-Webster, "to commit" means "to put into charge or trust or to obligate". While we all like to be in charge and trusted, few of us like to be obligated to anything, because obligation generally means sacrifice. We want all of the benefits that come along with commitment, without the work that is required. 


So often, we fail so miserably in our commitments to God, to our churches, to our families, and to our jobs. Perhaps the lengthy list of commitments is part of the reason we have such a tough time carrying them out. But the truth is, we are the ones who make the commitments, so we are responsible for keeping them, no matter how difficult it may be at times. If we fail to keep a commitment, it would have been better had we never made the commitment in the first place.


Jesus tells us in the Scriptures that, of those who are given much, much will be expected in return. We cannot be committed to anything without giving of ourselves on a regular basis. 


If we commit ourselves to do something for God, church, spouse, or employer, we should make sure that we can carry out that commitment. Perhaps that may require us to sacrifice something else that we would have liked to have done. We leave for vacation a day later, or come back a day earlier, in order to fulfill our  commitment to our church. We get up an hour earlier to have a quiet time, to fulfill our commitment to God. We work an extra hour here and there to fulfill our commitment to our jobs. We give up that round of golf or a day at the mall to fulfill our commitment to our families.


Commitment takes sacrifice, but the results are well worth the effort. As Christians, we should follow the example of Christ, who made the supreme sacrifice to fulfill His commitment to God and to us.