A Matter Of Commitment

                     It is said commitment is to be emotionally or intellectually certain of purpose, devoted to a cause or person, and expressed through behavior and action.  Marriage is a perfect demonstration of commitment.  It is an arrangement between two people- man and woman, who love each other, participate in a legal ceremony with the promise of spending the rest of their lives together. The commitment is more than a responsibility, it’s the outpouring of self at all costs, yet yields one of life’s greatest pleasures.

            There is the story of a young boy who hated his stepfather.  His childhood and youth years were spent with bitterness until one day he came home and found his mother very ill.  The boy instinctively went to find his step-father who immediately left the field where he was working to take care of the wife he loved. This man, whom the boy hated, loved his mother. And after his mother had received the medical attention she needed, the step-father assured the boy his mother would be fine.  His gentleness, despite the boy’s hatred, unnerved the boy.  The action made an impression upon the boy he had to come to terms with.

            Jesus made a commitment to us when he willingly went to the cross.  He didn’t have to.  He wasn’t guilty of a single sin.  It was I who sinned.  It was I who deserved to die.  But Jesus was willing to take the responsibility of my sin, gave everything He had- including his life, so that I might live.  This brings Him pleasure!

            Have you ever considered your commitment as a Christian?  I’m not talking about going to a cross or giving your life for another …… just your commitment as a Christian.  We are called to love not hate.  We are called to light not darkness.  There is no neutral.  There is no sitting on the fence.  There is no in between.  If we claim to be a Christian, others should be able to see our love and the Light that lives in us.

            After the commitment to love and Light, there is the commitment to other Christians.  The Bible is clear about how we are to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all one body and each member is as important as another.  We are to treat each with love and respect.  We are to share joy, pain, sorrow, good times and bad.  Does our commitment to Christ include this kind of behavior?  There is no middle ground or gray area. 

            There is also the commitment to share the Gospel.  This is not a choice; it’s a commandment.  We are to remember the new command of God’s love in Matthew 22  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.…….and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  We are to love friend and enemy.  We are to love the clean and dirty, the righteous and sinner, the accepted and the rejected.  We are to have depth and substance which we find in the Word of God. It is a spiritual journey out of darkness that we are to share and demonstrate.

            Like the young boy who saw his step-father demonstrate love for his mother, we are to love those who we don’t understand or otherwise “love.”  So I challenge you to consider your commitment to Christ.  Are you demonstrating Light and love, or something else?