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.


Prayer: Our Loving and Living Father, we do thank you for your commitment to us and for the supreme sacrifice you made to keep that commitment. We ask you now to give us the strength and the determination to maintain that same level of commitment in our lives. Help us to balance and fulfill our commitments to you, to our families, to our churches, and to our careers. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."

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.

Commitment

"Commit thy ways unto the Lord; trust also in him; he shall bring it to pass. - Psalm 37:5. (KJV). 


Exhortations to "commit" or "to be committed" appear frequently throughout the scriptures. But what do the words really mean? Too often, their meanings are casually interpreted as kinds of half-serious resolutions like people tend to make at New Year's,or something that they will undertake and carry out if they are able to, and if it's not too much trouble. But to "commit" or "to be committed" are by definition not negotiable actions. Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary defines the act of commitment as devoting oneself unreservedly to something. In practice, therefore, once a commitment is made, there can be no turning back.

I think that a good, everyday illustration of "commitment" is in that of an airplane taking off and landing. When an airplane is taking off, it must pick up enough taxiing speed to enable it to take to the air before it reaches the end of the runway. Once it has attained that required ground speed, it is effectively committed to taking off. There is no choice. The end of the runway is directly in front of it. Similarly, when a plane is landing, it must reduce its air speed and power to the point where it can set down on the tarmac and get stopped before it reaches the end of the runway. When the air speed and power are reduced to the critical point where they could not be regained in time for the plane to go back up, the plane is committed to land. Again, it has no choice. There can be no turning back.


This is how we as Christians must view our Christian lives and our relationship with God. Our commitment to God must be something that we wholeheartedly and unreservedly pursue with our very being. 


Either we are fully committed, or we are not committed at all. By definition, there is no such thing as being "somewhat" committed. The beautiful thing about it all, however, is that, with respect to our relationship to God, we don't want to be anything less than committed! This is because it is only in fully and completely committing ourselves to Him that we can find true peace and joy in our Christian lives.