Thinking about commitment in the Christian life can be a sour subject. God is forever committed to pursuing me, but I am far less than devoted in reciprocating that commitment back to Him. Commitment in general in America seems to have taken a serious slide on a number of fronts. There are serious problems with commitment when we look at marriage. But it’s not just marriage, it’s all over the place. Marriages just happen to be one of the places where it manifests itself in a pronounced way. Commitment issues have penetrated every corner of our society. I remember in High School friends saying “yes” to meeting up but never showing and not even calling. That was irritating. And that was keeping a commitment to do something fun!
Commitment to God is on a far difficult plane than keeping your commitment to hang out with friends even when a better offer passes by. We talk about the image of God a lot of times in Christian circles. But far less do I hear discussion on the image of God when it comes to reflecting God’s heart of commitment. We talk about imaging God in His love (so vague, right?), grace, mercy, and so on. All these things get overplayed in my mind with vagueness and elusiveness I don’t feel there is substance in my thought life anymore when it comes to these terms.
Commitment however is something that makes sense to me. Commitment is something that causes me to count the cost, and still decide to be committed anyways. I have substance to ponder when I think about if I truly desire to be committed. I weigh my options. I determine multiple factors. There is a flourish of mental activity.
It seems right now in my life questions about love, mercy, and grace leave me hanging without anything to hold unto. Should I love others? Yes. Should I show mercy to others? Yes. Should I extend grace to others? Yes. Right now I have little more than one word answers and that leaves me agitated. I’m on the cusp often times of parroting mindlessly the proper responses back to God. (On a sidenote I find this to be a real problem in youth ministry when words fail me, and I’m left giving youth an incomplete picture, and it feels like I give oversimplified answers and ask them to parrot one word answers and cliche phrases back at me.) Parroting the patent answers back to God is a real danger for Christians.
God doesn’t ask me today if I love others. God asks me if I’m COMMITTED to loving even my enemies. God doesn’t ask me today if I’m merciful to others. God asks me if I’m COMMITTED to showing mercy to those who ride me, give me a hard time, and show me none. God doesn’t ask me today if I’ll extend grace to others. God asks me if I’m COMMITTED to extending grace even when I’m cranky, grouchy, and when my own grace tank is empty.
Here are some questions below to help us think more clearly about commitments. Re prioritize when necessary. (It’s almost always necessary for me to kick out idols from the number 1 spot and put God back as number 1 priority.)
What does commitment entail?
What makes commitment difficult?
What are the top 5 commitments in your life?
Are you committed to making God the determining voice in how you spend your free time? (ouch, I know!)
Are you committed to daily giving God glory?
This one I disagree with on several points. I see teens everyday highly committed–to sports, to friends, to video games, to certain academic endeavors. Why? I think I know why…
–We can’t preach “commitment.” As humans, we don’t have it in us to be committed to God. We can be committed to work, to a hobby, to a person…but when it comes to real Love and Godly things, our nature will fail us every time.
–We can’t even teach commitment. Modeling it doesn’t work, either…1 Cor. 13…”Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am NOTHING.” I will say “Though I commit to every good work and every good act and every humility and every self sacrifice, but have not Love, I am NOTHING.”
–God does not ask, “Are you committed?” He asks, “Do you love me?” Our focus, our “commitment” so to speak, must be to submit, to yield–not to will but to give up our will. We cannot live the Christian life. I’ll say it again, we cannot live the Christian life. I have tried for almost 2 decades to live the proverbial Christian life, and I fail over and over, I can’t commit, I get discouraged and am tempted to leave God in the dust. Yet would I be leaving God in the dust??? Or just my own pride, my own stubborn insistence that I can do this on my own with maybe a little help from the Holy Spirit, if I just try a little harder…
The world says, “Be more committed.” God says, “Let go and let me do it for you and through you.”
Human commitment tends to come off as being driven, and usually leaves scars and a bad taste in the mouths of all in its wake. A condemnation that “you aren’t trying hard enough.” It is not seasoned with Love, and it is of the world.
God’s Love is committed to finish the work in us; if we but obey at His call, submit and yield, release our prideful control, He will finish that work and it will not only be seasoned with Love, it will spill over into other people’s lives and they will experience the Love of the One who is committed to saving them.
Just let go…you’ll find a sweet release full of joy and peace and find that your “works” will go from being nothing to being excitingly everything the Father wants them to be!
That’s what grace is, Nick. We can never grasp those concepts in our frail human minds – and even the mind of Albert Einstein was frail – but God will reveal them as we experience a relationship with Him. Relationship, not method, not commitment, not self-debasement, not service, not any other human attempt at earning our way into Heaven.
@ Ann,
Thank you Ann for the thoughtful response. I assume, and perhaps wronging that this post is read with conjunction and held in tension with an earlier post entitled, “The Vicious Cycle.” I spoke on the motivation-condemnation-rededication cycle, all aspects pointing to our inability to be committed and faithful. Thanks for bringing this point to light again.
“If we are faithless, He will remain faithful…” 2 Timothy 2:13
God’s faithfulness despite our inability at reciprocating it back gives humans many reasons to be thankful.
Keep praising God!