A God Of Commitment

   God is a God of commitment.  Making a commitment is making a solemn pledge, and it requires taking responsibility for keeping that commitment.  When a person signs any kind of contract he commits himself to the terms of that contract.  If somebody is offered a job, and he accepts it, he commits himself to all that doing that job entails.

   A great many people are afraid of making a commitment.  They want benefits without commitment.  Fear of commitment is a big reason why so many couples live together without getting married.  They talk about how much they love one another, how committed they are to one another, how they don’t need to be married to be committed to one another.  But when confronted with the question, “Then why don’t you go ahead and get married?,” they start making excuses.  The fact is, they don’t want to make the commitment that goes with being married.
   God made a commitment to provide mankind the opportunity to receive salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.  He demonstrated that commitment by sending Christ to the cross.  In return, God expects us to commit our lives to Him.  There’s the problem- people want the benefits of Christ’s death on the cross without having to actually commit their lives to Him!  They want to be saved, but they don’t want to have to live the life of the saved.
   Even many Christians struggle with commitment.  They want a nice, comfortable, commodious building in which to worship.  They want the building and grounds to be attractive and kept in good repair.  They want good, effective literature to be provided for their children’s Bible classes.  They’re impressed when they hear of good works being done in local evangelism and mission work being undertaken by the congregation.  But they don’t want to have to make any substantial personal commitment in terms of their contribution to fund those various needs.
   Many members of the Lord’s church want good teachers for the Bible classes, but they don’t want to commit themselves to teach any of those classes.  They want a good visitation program to be in place to follow up on visitors and check on the sick, shut-ins and those struggling spiritually.  But they don’t want to have to be involved in those works themselves.  They want lost souls to be led to salvation, but they don’t want to make the visits, issue the invitations or take part in the Bible studies that serve to lead those souls to salvation.  They want effective leadership within the church, but they don’t want to commit themselves to becoming leaders.
   There’s that dilemma again.  God is a God of commitment.  People want God’s commitment to them, but they don’t want to make the proper commitment to God.  Christianity is a religion of commitment.  People want the benefits of being a Christian, but they don’t want to have to be actively committed Christians themselves.  We need to get our thinking and our hearts straight.  Commitment requires commitment!…