Your Commitment to Christ: Strong or Surrendered?
“Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’” Matthew 22:37 (KJV, emphasis added)
Maybe you have heard or even contributed to the debate: Who was more committed to your breakfast plate, the chicken or the pig? The chicken committed the eggs and the pig, the bacon and ham. My preference is eggs over-easy with a thick slice of ham and some good old fashion Georgia ice cream aka grits! My objective was not to make you hungry so let’s proceed to move from our bellies to our hearts.
What about your commitment? Is your commitment to Christ strong or surrendered? The crises and challenges in this life as well as the consistent call of the cross of Christ to die daily reveal our resolve or our inclination to retreat when called to follow and obey the Lord and love Him supremely over all nouns (persons, places and things).
There are a number of references in the Bible that address our commitment to Christ in a diversity of components that comprise our lives such as our families, neighbors, employers, the church, education, entertainment, our health, and what we communicate. During the seasons of life, each of these facets can easily demand to be made a priority over the Lord. Unfortunately, many of us acquiesce to the aforementioned aspects and thereby conceded our commitment to Christ!
As our opening passage points out, the chief commitment of our lives must be to God Himself…“love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
Jesus is telling us that every inch of our being, every facet of our lives must be committed to loving and serving God. We must completely cancel out all the competition! He gave His all for us so should we not give our all to Him?
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 (KJV)
Our Lord Jesus calls for commitment that far exceeds our commitment to even our families:
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26-27 (KJV)
HIS blood is thicker than water! The bottom line is that those who cannot make the kind of commitment described in the Scriptures cannot be His disciples. This is the type of commitment that the Apostle Paul describes in his epistles to the churches at Galatia and Philippi.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
“For me to live is Christ…” Philippians 1:21 (KJV)
The Apostle Paul life points to a powerful and persistent picture of commitment of sincere and sacrificial service. Similarly for us, total commitment to God means that Jesus is our absolute authority, the ultimate and unparalleled of our affections, our divine direction, and our fixed and firm foundation.
For the Glory of God,
PBKSR