Commitment

“There can be no half hearted disciples, because the essence of following Jesus is a total commitment… a disciple who will not deny self will never have any positive influence on anyone.” ~ Mark C. Black

We were reading a bible study a couple of weeks ago and it was about commitment. Not just to Christ but in relationships as well. I got sidetracked with my other posts and thought I’d come back to this one and when I seen Duke Taber speaking of commitment I knew it was time to get back on track and write about commitment.

The bible study said something like, “If you can’t commit in a relationship how are you ever going to commit fully to your relationship with Christ?” This scared me a little bit because after 11 years with Steven he has never wanted to commit to a marriage. I have been committed and wanted a marriage but I’m not one to force the marriage issue on anyone.

It speaks volumes to me because while he has become closer to God, he still has not wanted to commit to marriage for whatever selfish reasons he has in mind. To me, if he can’t commit to a woman, just how much has he really committed to Christ? This I strongly wonder.

I have stood by him through thick and thin, in sicknesses and health, through triumphs and through failures and through it all I still love him and am committed to him to where marriage is the next step, right? I guess not and it really has me thinking what Jesus expects from US as a human race? Does He expect us to halfway commit?

Not at all! He expects us to fully commit and that means denying self = selfishness, put our SELF on hold and think of others first. We can’t sit back and enjoy our sinful ways and not expect consequences. Pastor Dave said something a few weeks back that drove this home for me. He said our salvation is bought and paid for by the blood of the cross, it is non-refundable. BUT, don’t ever think there is no consequence to your sin!

I, as a committed Christian, am aware of the consequences of MY sin. When my truck went into a ditch a few years back, I knew rightly so it was a consequence of my sin. Now some will shrug off the consequences of sin as “Hey, stuff happens.” Sorry to burst your bubble but nothing EVER happens without a reason. When you become aware of the consequences, you become more aware of the sin and are less likely to commit that sin again. Well, most anyway, not ALL.

Now, back to commitment. When you commit to Christ you are committing all you own, all you have, all you are to Him and only Him. You’re not allowed to halfway be a Christian. You can’t honor or admire other gods, because that would be the false idol that you are relating to and if you can’t relate to Christ and all He commands, then you my friend have not committed to Christ FULLY.

2 Tim. 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Being a Christian is a commitment, like marriage, not just lip-service you pay to look good to others. A commitment is more than reading and believing. Let me ask you this, you say you listen to sermons on TV or the radio, you read, you believe. My question is this: If something happens in your life (a sickness and illness or a death) are those TV people gonna stand beside you and comfort you? Are they going to see you through hard times? NOT AT ALL.

It might be enough for you to go it alone with your pride saying, “I’m not alone, I have Christ.” Allow me to tell you, in your commitment to Christ, He placed the fellowship of Christians (church) to surround you and comfort you PHYSICALLY, not in some virtual realm.

You ARE committed, right? How? All the way or halfway?

“You can be committed to Church but not committed to Christ, but you cannot be committed to Christ and not committed to church.” ~ Joel Osteen