Commitment Issues

Psalm 37:5,6 "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. 

Proverbs 16:3  "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. 

For the past 2 weeks I've been teaching on dating and marriage with our college students and one thing that definitely comes up a lot is this idea of commitment.  We certainly have commitment issues in our culture.  We see it everywhere.  From sports, to jobs, and to relationships we see that being committed to something isn't exactly one of the first things that comes out when we describe the culture we live in.

In order for any marriage to work it takes deep commitment.  This is why I always tell my students that it is ridiculous when people live together before they get married.  First, you are faking being married which is always a bad idea.  Second, the thought that "some paper that says we're married doesn't mean I love you" really means "I'm not committed enough to you to actually make it legal."

Why does commitment matter?

Lacy and I didn't do everything perfectly when we dated/were engaged but one thing I think we really did do right was that we were committed to what we were doing together.  We always made a commitment to be at church every Sunday even if we were out of town.  It might sound crazy but when we had gone some where out of town, we would leave late on a Saturday just to be back for church.  Is it a sin to miss church?  Absolutely not.  Is it ok to miss once in a while because you are traveling?  Yes.  But, what it did for us was establish when we said we would be committed to something, we did it.  The same went for how we served in youth ministry and the young adult ministry at the time.  By setting a foundation of having a committed culture in our relationship it automatically transferred to every other part of our lives.  And, it set the tone for our marriage.  For those of you who are married you know how much commitment it takes to make things work.  You've got to be willing to serve each other, give up certain things, fight through off days, work on communication, and strive to always put the other person first.

That takes commitment.

But commitment means so much in other areas of our lives too.  Are you a person who keeps their word or are you constantly disappointing people with your failed promises?  Are you committed to working hard at your job?  Are you committed to working hard at your friendships?

What about your commitment to your church?  Do you church hop all of the time?  Are you plugged in anywhere at all?  (Matt Chandler wrote a great blog post about this here.) 

I find it interesting how often things come down to commitment.  When I sit with people in counseling sessions about relationships, friendships, marriages, work, or faith, it quite often boils down to how committed the person is to really making it work.  When we are committed to making something work it will always mean change, sacrifice, and big reality check of who we really are. 

In order for anything to work it takes commitment and following Christ isn't any different.  Jesus made an awfully big commitment to us when he was nailed to the cross.  What is your response to that?  A constant criticism of the very thing he established to spread the gospel? (which is the Church).  A denial of all spiritual disciplines to foster a closer relationship with Him?

Being committed is completely counter cultural and I feel like that's what Jesus called us to be a long time ago (Read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7).

Peace,
Wags