[Ps. 37:5] Commit thy way unto the LORD: trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
In this day and age there is a word in the English language that seems to have lost its definition and meaning to most people. We know the word, we read the word, we understand the meaning of the word, however we often fail to live this word. We place our hopes, desires, and expectations on this word. We have others to believe in this word and they too place their hopes, desires, and expectations on us because we use this word. However we often damage, hurt love ones and destroy lives because we fail to fulfill the definition of this word.
What is this word? It is a word that means: an agreement or pledge to do something in the future or to continue something until completion. This word indicates something pledged. It is a word that alludes to the state or an instance of being obligated to a cause, task or purpose. This word is the English Anglo Saxon word Commitment.
We prefer to think of commitment as something that doesn’t require any sacrifice. No sacrifice really’ means no commitment, and in a world where there’s always something bigger, brighter and newer round the next corner, most people find it less and less beneficial to commit. To make things harder we often perceive some things to be better to or for us than they actually might be ’and so we are, confused as to what to commit to. Nowadays it’s a big deal to make an honest commitment because we don’t like being obligated. Commitment is at the very heart of what it is to be a real man or a real woman. Commitment is to agree or pledge to do something in the future or to continue something until completion, see something through, regardless of the cost - not halfway -but all the way through.
Life is full of necessary and required commitments. It is virtually impossible to live life and not commit to something. Throughout this life we live, we commit to:
Jobs, Banks, Creditors, Relationships, Marriages, Dreams, Our Pastor, Our Church, and Jesus Christ.
But all too often we fail to live up to our commitments. So what if we break a commitment? We’ve all done it and sometimes we have even felt bad about it. We’ve all made wrong turns and bad decisions in making commitments. I mean, it looked and sound good when we heard it. We truly though that this was what we wanted or the right thing at that time and place and we felt that we could truly do and was willing to do what was required. However, when things got uncomfortable or the way got hard, or things didn’t go as we thought they would, we began to have second thoughts about what we had committed ourselves to doing, and thus began the breaching of our committed contract. Our given word. At that time we began to search for reasons to justify why we should not be obligated to honor or hold to the commitment we made. As Christians we at that time fail to follow the example of Jesus Christ, who was the best example of true commitment - a real man who gave up everything for love till the end. A man who committed his life from the beginning so that we would not be bound to eternal damnation. Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
What if Jesus would have reneged or breached on his word, on his commitment to mankind?
Throughout this life as you wax old, you will find that there are different levels or types of Commitments that you will make and encounter from others. As I studied this word commitment in the text of God I encountered a few examples of Commitments made by the Saints of Old.
1. Carnally Commitment: to commit to the work of God without spiritual understanding to bring about a personal desire without relaying or waiting on God to make it happen.
There was Peter in Lk.22: 33-37 who displayed Carnal Commitment
Peter was committed to Jesus in the establishment of an earthly kingdom. That was what he wanted, and he was willing to follow Jesus to the end-even to the point of dying in combat against the Romans to have this earthly kingdom, However, when he saw Jesus arrested and tried and seemed to be powerless, Peter’s personal ambition was crushed. Therefore, his giving in to temptation to strike out and cut off the ear of a solider was a natural worldly reaction. The way the world would do things to achieve what they wanted. Peter resulted to his might and his ability to bring forth the kingdom. Peter’s commitment was true, but carnal because his purpose and motive for committing himself was wrong.
Have you ever committed to a purpose or cause or a situation, with the wrong motives in your heart? Have you ever committed because you though that it would bring about the things you wanted, but when things got heated and the situations were not handled the way you thought that they should be handled, instead of trusting and leaving it to God you took matters into your own hands, only to make a mess of the whole situation?
Zach. 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit. saith the LORD of hosts.
A carnal commitment purposes and desires to have earthly and material things.
A spiritual commitment purposes and desires to have spiritual and heavenly things.
Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
2. Half-heartedly Commitment. Lk.9: 57-62
In this section we see three applicants who want to become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus gives them a test of what is required to become a committed follower, a disciple of Christ.
The first applicant is a young man.
And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head [Luke 9:57–58].
Jesus answer to the young man revealed that when you are committed to following Jesus you will at times encounter hardships. You will not always have the riches and comforts of the world. At times you will even be opposed for no reason, by those whom you least expect. At times you will fell like a wonder of the world without a place to lay your head.
And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God [Luke 9:59–60].
This applicant had made a decision to follow Jesus, but he wanted to first bury his father. The boy is saying that he would have to take care of his father until he died. After his father was gone, he would be free to follow Jesus. The boy sounds like some of today’s Committed Christians.
You know:
Lord I’ll follow you; I’ll come to Church but only on Sunday morning, if weather permits.
Lord I’ll follow you, I’ll come to Church every time the doors open, but don’t expect me to teach a class or sing in the choir, don’t expect me to pray aloud or sit next to Sister so and so, and don’t expect me to sit through that long sermon without taking me a smoke brake.
Lord I’ll follow you, as long as it doesn’t cost me anything and I don’t have to give anything up. I’ll follow you Lord until the day I die.
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God [Luke 9:61–62].
This third applicant wanted to take a leave of absents to tell loved ones good-bye. He wanted to be a disciple, he wanted to commit to being a follower of Jesus Christ, but he did not want to make any sacrifice. No sacrifice really’ means no commitment. The apostle Paul wrote, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13–14).
There are many halfway and halfhearted committed follower of Jesus Christ in the Church today. They don’t participate in any of the church activities; they don’t support the church functions. They don’t give freely their time or finances to assist the church in any way. Many only do and give the bear minimum. Yes they are for the furtherance of the Church and the Kingdom of God, but only when it benefits them directly.
I pray for the halfhearted committed for the bible says in Matt. 7:21-23 that Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
3. Faithfully Committed. 1 Tim.1: 11-12
Paul gives and shows an example of one being Faithfully committed no matter the cost. Paul traveled the known world at his time, preaching and teaching the Gospel. Paul was talked about, stoned, chased out of town, beaten again and again, and placed in prison, Yet he preached the Gospel. Paul fought the raging battle within himself and all created men, between the spirit man and the natural man. Paul stated: Romans 7:21-24 So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me. In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God, But I see another law in my body, working against the law of my mind, and making me the servant of the law of sin which is in my flesh. How unhappy am I ! who will make me free from the body of this death? Yet Paul still preached. Paul had a situation in his life that was so unbearable that he prayed that God would remove it, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul said And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain. And about this thing I made request to the Lord three times that it might be taken away from me. And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me. Yet Paul still preached.
Why and how did Paul yet preach? Paul explains in 1 Tim. 1:12-16 Paul says, I give praise to him who gave me power, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he took me to be true, making me his servant, Though I had said violent words against God, and done cruel acts, causing great trouble: but I was given mercy, because I did it without knowledge, not having faith; And the grace of our Lord was very great, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners, of whom I am the chief: But for this reason I was given mercy, so that in me, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might make clear all his mercy, as an example to those who in the future would have faith in him to eternal life.
Paul was faithfully committed to God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and The Church.
Regardless of your past or present sins, God does forgive. There is no sin greater than another. There is no sin in which Christ cannot or will not forgive. We all were at one time Chief sinners or at least we felt that we were at one time or another in our lives. It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners.
What I’m trying to say is that one can not be Carnally, Halfheartedly and Faithfully Committed to Christ, at one time or maybe even at present, you may have been only Carnally Committed, serving Christ for personal gain and not understanding the spiritual aspect of being Committed to Christ. At one time in your life or maybe even at present you may have been only Half-heartedly Commitment to serving Christ based on your conditions. But now is the time to become Faithfully Committed to God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and The Church. Now is the time to become Faithfully Committed to building the kingdom of God and doing the work of the Lord.
Do understand that though our lives may be riddled with failures and shortcomings, Paul assures the Christian in Romans 3:23-26 that all have done wrong and are far from the glory of God; And they may have righteousness put to their credit, freely, by his grace, through the salvation which is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment; And to make clear his righteousness now, so that he might himself be upright, and give righteousness to him who has faith in Jesus. Therefore never the less our Christian life may be inconsistent from time to time and for that the Lord forgives as we grow in his grace, but our commitment to God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and The Church must be consistent and faithful in every way and in every aspect.
I leave you with the words of Joshua in 24:14-15 as he spoke unto the people of God. So now, go in fear of the Lord, and be his servants with true hearts: put away the gods worshipped by your fathers across the River and in Egypt, (of being Carnally Committed or Halfheartedly Committed )and be servants of the Lord (Faithfully Committed). And if it seems evil or undesirable to you to be the servants of the Lord, (Choose), make the decision this day whose servants you will be: of the gods whose servants your fathers were across the River, or of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but as for me and my house we will the serve the Lord. By being Faithfully Committed!
Why am I Faithfully Committed?
v Because of his Grace and Mercy
v Because he came down through 42 generation and arrived as a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths to save my soul.
v Because he grew up and waxed old for 33 years, only to be beaten to receive the strips through which I am healed.
Why am I Faithfully Committed ?
v Because they placed a crown of 72 thorns upon his head
v They beat and mocked him and lead him from court to court
v They nailed him to a cross with outstretched arm in which he received all of my sins of the past present and feature.
Why am I Faithfully Committed?
v Because as he hung on the cross he lifted his eyes unto heaven and said “it is finished” and his head fell upon the lock of his shoulder and my soul was saved from a burning Hell.
That’s why I’m Faithfully Committed!!!
v As for me and my house we will the serve the Lord. By being and staying Faithfully Committed!
