Commitment is Easy
“Commitment is easy. Committing to the right thing is the difficult task.”
It's just one of those sayings that has stuck with me. It became embedded in my mind for whatever reason. Commitment is easy when everything is handed to you. It’s pretty darn easy to commit to reading a book, or watching your favorite television show every week. Oh how your attitude shifts and your schedule changes when it conflicts with the season finale of 'This Is Us'. It’s even easy to go on a short-term missions trip, because you know you’re coming home to the lifestyle you’re accustomed to. All of this determination to read the book cover to cover, watch the entire series, and even punch your mission card doesn’t really adjust your life’s ebb and flow.
I’ve even tried the dieting commitment. Anyone that knows me, or has simply seen a picture of me knows the outcome of this conversation. I’m not even going to say I’ve struggled with my weight for the majority of my life. It’s not really a struggle when you willingly stuff pizza after burrito after buffalo wing after gallons of soda after cake after pie into your gullet. That has been my “commitment”. It's a conscious choice to overeat simply because I love good-tasting food. Now, there was a time, and by “time”, I mean around 8-9 months, I committed to lose weight. A long time ago, I lost a total of 76 pounds! However, quickly found it all again. So, as I work out my superficial commitments in my life, allow me to share what the Lord has been speaking to my heart.
Are you willing and prepared to biblically commit your life to Christ? Do you know what that means? Many would say, “Yes. I’ve committed my life to Jesus. I go to church and read my bible.” I’m sorry to say, but you’ve committed to wear the name badge of Christianity. That doesn’t take much effort. Allow me to share with you an excerpt from R.C. Sproul’s, The Truth of the Cross:
If everybody in the world woke up and said, ‘Someday I have to stand before my Maker and give an account for every word I’ve ever spoken, every deed I’ve ever done, every thought I’ve ever thought, and every task I’ve failed to do’, several things could happen. They could say, ‘I’m accountable, but isn’t it great that the One to Whom and before Whom I am accountable isn’t concerned about the kind of life I lead, because He understands that boys will be boys and that girls will be girls.’ In that case, nothing would change. But if people understood that there is a holy God and that sin is an offense against that holy God, they would break down the doors of our churches and ask, ‘What must I do to be saved?’
If we look to God’s Word, it becomes very clear, very quickly, that commitment is more than a state of mind. Commitment involves action. Whether you commit, are committed, or making a commitment, there is a level of doing that needs to be considered. Throughout scripture, these are some of the terms that follow “commit” or “committed”:
sin, blasphemy, breach of faith, iniquity, adultery, evils, abomination, lewdness, treachery, robbery, whoredom, villainy, offense, shameless acts, transgressions, ungodliness, sexual immorality.
Quite a list to consider when that is everything we do in our lives at some point or another. We have committed ourselves to a sinful way of life, despite the ever-increasing distance it’s placing us from a ever-growing intimacy with a loving Heavenly Father. Yet, here is what we find when the term is applied to committing our lives to Christ. When we commit our lives to God, we are committing to what He can do for us, not what we can do for Him.
“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number: he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.” (Job 5:8-16 ESV)
So when you proclaim to those around you that you’ve committed your life to Christ, you absolutely, unequivocally, without doubt, better be living a life that represents what you claim! We, as Christians, are to LIVE our life dedicated to Jesus Christ, and this involves a tremendous amount of action that verifies our faith. It’s not by what you do that you attain salvation. It’s how Jesus Christ lived His life and what He sacrificed for you that verifies your right standing in God’s family. He himself made a commitment, and it resulted in a life of sacrifice and ultimately death (Luke 23:46). Why? Because we were worth dying for.
"What do you expect the Christian life to be like? Our expectations of life in this world should be shaped not just by the reality of this fallen world, but by the fact that we have chosen to follow a crucified savior. If you follow a big celebrity, you might expect to share in some of their glamour. If you follow a great general, you might expect to share in his victories in battle. What would you expect, if you choose to follow a man who was crucified? The question God asks you is not “Do you want to go to heaven?” but “Are you ready to follow Jesus?” (Colin S. Smith, You Followed a Crucified Savior)
We have chosen to commit to and follow Him, but have we counted the costs? Are you ready to follow Him? It’s time to ask yourself, “Have I honestly, truly, biblically committed to be a follower of Jesus Christ?” The following verse is a special verse, but only if you read it properly. Commit your ACTIONS. You can’t commit your state of mind. “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3 NLT) David A. Hubbard stated, “God is in no sense obligated to do what we want…but we have no hope at all of seeing our plans take shape unless we depend on Him for grace and guidance.”
“Commitment is easy. Committing to the right thing is the difficult task.”
