COMMITMENTS

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth…” (John 4:23-25) Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ… (Ephesians 5:2ff) Beloved, what are your commitments? Are you even committed? Where is your heart? What drives you? What should you be committed to? How committed are you? I believe that our number one commitment should be to God, our creator and sustainer. Seeing that we are here on assignment, our loyalty must first be to the one who committed the task into our hands. Any ambassador who refuses to be loyal to his home country is usually recalled. Our commitment to God and His call on our lives should be total, not half-hearted. It must be seen. You cannot claim to love, and it will not be evident. Love for God must drive you to unshakeable loyalty to Him. You cannot be representing God and blatantly breaking His rules. Jesus rebuking the Pharisees accused them of behaving like their father, the devil. How you carry on in life reveals to whom you are committed? The Bible lets us know that our commitment to our families must be unflinching. God put us in families for a purpose, His purpose. If we claim to be serving God and we are not committed to our families, we might be wasting good time. What should we do with the wayward child, the runaway husband or wife, the traitor sibling? The word recommends, love them, pray for them, bless them, go after them but do not give up on them. Is it easy I hear you say? The Lord supplies grace if we ask Him. Loving the unlovable brings out Christ in us. We were not exactly the best of sheep when he decided to lay down His life for us. In like manner, we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. And let them continue to trample over me? Remember this; my beloved, power belongs to God. No one can hurt you without God, allowing it. Besides, it will be nice to see God show forth His might through you. Moses was not there when Miriam and Aaron were murmuring against him. God dealt with them. Wouldn't it be nice to let God deal with those who provoke God in you? We also need to be dedicated to serving one another in church. How committed are you in your local assembly? Do they feel your impact in church? Are you there to give or to take? The word says it is better to give than to receive. When we gather together, all of us must have something to offer. What are you bringing to the table? Never go to church empty, you must always have something to offer. Finally, we must be unswervingly committed to our dreams. We cannot expect others to invest in our dreams or passions if we are not doing so ourselves. What should attract people to your dreams is the zeal with which you drive such. What is your God-given vision? How are you driving them? I sense that many of us need to go back to God in repentance. We have been selfish. We have committed to nothing but our bellies. Beloved, please consider your ways, weigh your commitments, retrace your steps, keep your priorities right. God will help us all in Jesus name. Further Study: 1 Timothy 3:2-7, Galatians 5:13, Matthew 13:44, Luke 9:62 Hebrews 10:25, John 2:17, 1 Corinthians 14:26, Exodus 34:20-21)