Commitment: Do You Have It?

Acts 20: 24

Jesus is our peerless example of commitment. He often made such comments as:

“I must work the work of Him Who sent Me…”

“Let us go up to Jerusalem…”

In dark Gethsemane His commitment was emotionally challenged, for the last time, as He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22: 43)

I Corinthians 15: 31 appeals to followers of Jesus to “die daily.” Every devoted Christian has to die daily to a number of good things that might have a controlling grip on him or her. Such as, personal ambition, worldly pleasure, people’s applause, and greed.

From an East German pastor comes this story from the days when Communism gripped his land. A young man who was a committed member of his congregation was seized by the communists and never heard of again. Not long after, another young man started attending the church. He was a well known hardened leader in the communist youth movement. The pastor’s suspicion grew until at last he asked why he was attending.  He replied, “You know that young man from your church who was seized and taken away.”

The pastor assured him he knew the young man well.

“Well,” said the visitor, “I saw him when he was being harassed and tortured. Not only did he refuse to betray his friends, but through it all he never showed any bitterness toward his tormentors. Even in the hour of death, there was no anger toward those who were about to kill him. Instead, he spoke of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and God’s love.”

He concluded, “And when I saw him die, I knew I must come, in spite of what it will cost me, to learn of his Christ and the love for our enemies that strengthened him in his last hours.”

The reason that young Christian was able to die such a positive death was he had spiritually died to self and for Christ much earlier when he committed himself to Christ.

It is challenging to hear a message that appeals to you to walk away from, give up, die daily to those things that keep them from being all the Lord created them to be.

Radical commitment to Christ is a challenge, but it leads to the abundant life of which Christ spoke. Will you shrink back from such commitment?

Are you willing to make a deliberate up-scale commitment of your life to Jesus today? You are not likely to be called upon to die physically for Jesus, but you are challenged to live daily for Him.