Be Committed

To be successful Christians we need to be committed Christians. We need to make sure that we are not any less committed than our enemies.

And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Acts 23:12-14

What a commitment these people in the above passage had. They had such a strong hate for Paul and the truth that he was teaching that they vowed not to eat or drink until they had ended Paul’s life. Think of how big a commitment that is: putting their own lives on the line in order to achieve their goal.

The devil is always walking around looking for souls to snatch away. He is “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) and his followers are often firmly held in his clutches - strongly devoted to him.

We need to have that level of commitment and devotion for God. We need to be willing to put our lives on the line - willing to give up anything and everything so that we can carry out our Father’s will. And as those Jews had such a strong hate for Paul and God’s word, we need to have a strong love for Jesus and the Scriptures.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

We need to be so strongly committed to Christ that we no longer live for ourselves. Our own personal needs and desires become a second thought. The word of God becomes our life’s roadmap. Our life is fully offered to the Lord without reservation. Christians need to be equally, if not more, committed to God than the enemy is to Satan.

                -- John Thrower Jr.