Day 6: Renewed Commitment

Bible Reading: Ruth 1:1-22

It used to be said in soccer circles that the only really committed people to the clubs are the fans- players and owners are simply business people who will make decisions progressively based on business interest. These days though, I’m not too sure of the fans being committed. In a day and era of porting, it seems to apply not only to mobile networks, but to anything and everything in a pursuit of happiness.  People port mobile networks, port jobs, port relationships, port marriages, port clubs, port vendors, port churches… there’s even a whole city called port harcourt! And we do it all in pursuit of perceived greater happiness.

If we’re not careful, we start to live in such a way that we entirely lose the virtue of commitment and live in the false idolisation of happiness. I do not think that we are called to a life of sadness, but I don’t think that we are merely called to a life of happiness either. We are called to follow Jesus, and as we stay through in that pursuit, we find the ultimate pleasure.

You will teach me the right way to live. Just being with you will bring complete happiness. Being at your right side will make me happy forever   Psalm 16:11 ERV

What are you committed to? 

Barely going through the motions, porting commitments will never bring us into the weight of God’s plans for this year.

 To be Christian is to live our lives in such a way that our faith births commitments.  Our faith connects us to people, to places, to plans and to processes that become the shape of our lives. 

I believe that our ultimate loyalty and commitment is to Jesus, but out of that ultimate commitment must flow other commitments with which we live our lives. Anybody who wakes up claiming a commitment to only Jesus has not really encountered Jesus. You love Jesus? He tells you to demonstrate it by how you love people? You serve Jesus? He tells you to serve people. You put Him first? He says demonstrate it by giving the first 10% of all your income to His house.  You are committed to His cause? Be a passionate builder of the local church.

A commitment to Jesus will never be abstract. It will birth other commitments that we hold strongly. 

 My encouragement as you set the tone for the year is that you prayerfully identify what  commitments the Lord will have you hold and run with, and that you make sure you are making practical decisions to be a very committed person this year. 

Commitment will tell on your time. It will tell on your budget. It will tell on your emotional investment. It will tell in your energy investment. It will tell in your mindedness. It will tell in your prayer list. Commitment becomes a way of life for us. Any commitment that doesn’t affect your time, resources and energy is not a true commitment.

To live without commitment is to be a floating wanderer in the scenes of life. In those ancient words, if we stand for nothing, we fall for anything. 

Everybody will ultimately be committed to something. Wise people just make the choice ahead of time to pick their commitments and run with them. The guy who cheats on his wife is technically not an ‘uncommitted’ man. He is not committed to his marriage, but he has built a new commitment to the adulteress, that he considers his family and home worth sacrificing for it.

When it comes to people, what are your circles? What is your community? What processes are you commitedly embracing?   How are you learning this year? How are you growing? How are you being trained? What systems and processes are holding you accountable? What atmospheres are keeping you inspired and challenged?

Let’s make this the year when we truly live like Christians- holding strong commitments that leak and reveal our faith and  running with them. Let’s be more committed to the people of God than ever before, and to the house of God. Punctuality, by the way,  is a big index of commitment. Let’s be more committed to the people God has placed in our lives- whether over us, with us or beneath us. Lets be more committed to the processes of our Christian life and faith. Let’s be more committed to maximizing productivity and fruitfulness with all the opportunities in our hands- whether business, career, academics, or even just family time.

Let’s be builders and not destroyers this year! I believe that as we lean in to the supply of Grace of the Holy Spirit, He delivers us from being mere convenience-seeking hustling wanderers and works in us a spirit of faith-filled, God-honouring commitment. 

Because the Lord God helps me, I will not be dismayed; therefore, I have set my face like flint to do his will, and I know that I will triumph. Isaiah 50:7 TLB

In Prayer today

1. Pray for the Lord to channel you away from commitments that are not His will for your life. Pray that as you wait on God today, He will order your heart towards the people, places, plans and processes  that He will have you be committed to this year.
2. Pray for a fresh spirit of commitment to be upon you. More than mere human determination, pray for the Holy Spirit to work within you a spirit that won’t back out, but will stay through strong in all seasons.

   PS. Super Saturday is today! I’m looking forward to rounding off this first week of Surge with a great time of prayer! You can join in at 7 am, 12 noon or 7 pm WAT (repeat sessions), exclusively on Mixlr: Sycamore Church.