Shalom,
Please begin by reading Psalm 37:5-6.
We need to begin by saying that commitment only comes after surrender. If you don’t surrender your life to Jesus as your Savior, allowing him to cleanse you of your sin and to abide in your life, you can’t commit to his Lordship. To commit without surrender is to attempt to live Christianity in your own strength and ability. This isn’t the right way to be a disciple and will only lead to disappointment when things don’t seem to be working out the way you thought they would. To stop at having Jesus as your Savior without moving on to his being your Lord and Master will mean a life of frustration as you find yourself alienated from the one who wants to guide your life into peace and hope.
To commit is to entrust to another’s care or to obligate and pledge yourself to something. Many people today say they don’t want to make commitments. But the truth is that we make commitments regularly. A strange one is when people commit not to make commitments. The truth is that we’re making a commitment by deciding not to commit. People who attempt to avoid commitment are mostly trying to avoid responsibility. People who don’t like responsibility will find their lives becoming more controlled by others. Yahweh made us to be responsible, to take on a task and do it well. So we’re designed to operate best when we’re committed to something or someone.
Our commitment to Yahweh provides two very important things: righteousness and justice which will shine brightly through us. He’ll make our good deeds stand out and be noticed. He’ll raise us up above our worldly circumstances. We’ll be able to shine his light brightly when we show ourselves to be righteous and just in our actions. By committing ourselves to working as a servant to the Most High God he promises to help us do better and become better. The best way to improve ourselves is to surrender to our Designer’s purpose and plan.
Why should we commit our way to our Lord’s way? Because he’ll bring out the best in us. We can’t be truly right and just without our heavenly Father’s help. By nature we’re selfish, yet true righteousness and justice are selfless. Isa 1:16-17 exhorts us to do what’s right and just. “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.” The best way to accomplish this is to be obedient to our Lord’s direction and conscious of his commands for right living.
After we’re saved it’s up to us as individuals to ensure we’re committed to the cause of Christ. If we pledge ourselves to his Kingdom, we’ll be reaching out for the Holy Spirit’s assistance to ensure we’re truly living according to his will. We’ll be working to produce good fruit. We can’t allow disappointments and discouragement to overcome our commitment to our Lord. If we mess something up or problems arise, it should drive us closer to our Lord, not farther away. When troubles crop up, we should be seeking more help, not less.
If we’ll commit ourselves to Yahweh’s purpose, it’s like rolling our burden of care and responsibility over onto him. It’s not that we unload our responsibility, but that we allow him to work through us in more powerful ways. A secondary meaning for commit in the Hebrew is to wallow in. Instead of wallowing in the filth of the earth and our sin, we can wallow in the goodness of our God. When we trade our burdens for Holy Spirit guidance and assistance, the benefits are more than worth it.
John Maxwell says there are four types of people when it comes to commitment. 1) Cop-outs, people who have no goals and therefore don’t commit to anything. 2) Holdouts, people who don’t know if they can reach their goals, so they’re afraid to commit and possibly fail. 3) Dropouts, people who start toward a goal, but quit when the going gets tough. 4) All-outs, people who set goals, commit to them, and pay the price to reach them. Jesus told us about counting the cost in Luke 14:28-33.
When we come to Jesus for salvation and receive the cleansing from our sins, we’re supposed to follow that up by committing to be his disciple. We’re supposed to become All-Outs concerning living the Christian life. Doing that means following his way of life, and living by his rules. Real repentance brings real salvation, which brings real discipleship. Anything less than a full surrender means we didn’t truly repent, and if that’s the case we aren’t really Christians. Anything less than a real and full commitment to be a disciple of Jesus will cause us to be weak and inconsistent as Christians. Jesus told the men he called as his disciples, “Follow me.” There are two words used for follow. The first means to get behind and follow, to do what we see the Master doing. The second means to accompany, to go with our Master and watch how he does things. Both are referring to an active following of what we choose to align ourselves with.
If there’s no real commitment to follow Jesus after we’re saved there’s going to be real problems. When there’s no real change in us, we’re living a lie and things will break down eventually. When we follow Jesus without a solid commitment, we’ve only thrown up a smoke screen or a false front to try to fool someone. Well, we’re the fool because our Lord always condemns half-hearted commitment. 2 Chron 25:2 tells us something unflattering about King Amaziah. “He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, but not wholeheartedly.”
When we only have a surface commitment, we tend to give lip service instead of being truth speakers. And we should all know that our heavenly Father absolutely hates that in us. Isa 29:13 tells us what Yahweh thinks about this. “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up of rules taught by men.” It’s never right for us to use man-made rules to worship our God. We don’t like to get lip service from other people because we know they don’t really mean what they’re saying. Why do we then think we can get away with it concerning the Lord God Almighty?
How would you feel if your spouse was only committed to you one day a week? What if employees only showed up one day a week? What if your doctor only treated your surface symptoms? What if your water or electricity only showed up one day a week? We wouldn’t like any of these things. So why do so many churchgoers think they can get away with it when it comes to their relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit? Too many churchgoers don’t want to get too involved. We hear sorry excuses like: It might take away from my home life. I couldn’t socialize with my friends. I’m not a fanatic. I’m just a background person. My business associates wouldn’t understand. My favorite TV show is on that evening.
Think about TV. People sit and watch a half-naked, sin-ridden bunch of misfits try to manipulate each other so they can win a million dollars. Or we watch sinful human beings resolve common or complex issues without prayer or real hope. Or we laugh at crude and disgusting put-down humor and call it comedy. But please don’t ask me to attend a prayer meeting or a fellowship meal or worship services because they’re inconvenient and I’m busy. It’s amazing that people who name themselves as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, who claim they really aren’t into the “Jesus” thing.
Maybe we need something like this to happen to get our attention. Just as the pastor got up to deliver his sermon a young man jumped up and shouted, “You don’t mean a word of it! You sang ‘All to Jesus I Surrender’ and ‘Where He Leads Me I Will Follow,’ but do you really mean it?” The congregation sat stunned and unresponsive. It was a preplanned act on the part of the pastor and the young man, but its impact was felt by everyone there. The question remains for all of us, “Do we really mean what we sing and say in our churches?”
Sometimes we love to sing the songs with our mouths, but then we don’t let the words sink down into our hearts. Sometimes we really mean what we prayed at the moment, but later the world creeps in and we forget. All of us have good and bad days. All of us struggle with particular situations and issues. What we all need to remember is that our Lord has provided us help, help that’s readily available and that can fill us with assurance and peace. We all need to evaluate our hearts and work toward being better followers of our Lord Jesus.
Our Lord has given us an amazing power, choice. We have the freedom to say yes or no, the capacity to make life-changing commitments and decisions. We’re not trapped or tricked into being Christians. We can praise the Lord or not. We can serve the Lord or not. We can walk in his light, or not. Each step toward him is a commitment to receiving more of his light. Each step away is a commitment to reject his light. Yes, it’s that simple. Every decision and choice we make determines whether we’re drawing closer or moving away from Jesus. May our choices be more for living in his presence.
We talk about the Promised Lands we’d like to experience. We want a Christian home. We want a Christian community. We want a good church. But there’s a price to pay for each of these. If we want the benefits of Christianity in our lives, we have to commit to doing things by Yahweh’s rules. His plan for us is perfect. It’s filled with blessings and lots of other good things. But we have to align ourselves with him and surrender our personal agendas for his approval. If our Lord tells us that our plans aren’t good, then we need to lay them down and accept his advice and guidance. Remember counting the cost!
To commit means we’ll do all we can to obey the Word of our God. Matt 16:24 says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Remember that he’s the Lord and Master and we’re the servant. 2 Chron 16:9 says, “The eyes of Yahweh range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” If we’ll listen to the Spirit’s voice and do what he tells us we’re promised to receive the blessing of strength to fulfill our commitment. May we all become better at living out our commitment to Jesus.
Blessings & Peace, Mike
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Blessings! I hope that this study has enlightened you or helped you in some way. Please feel free to leave a plain old comment, or a question. Comments are moderated to keep the peace