Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
With a new look
Can You Stay Committed?
The reason I ask that is because many people, Christians and no-Christians, commit to doing something and, after a while stop for some stupid reason. For instance; look at going on a diet to take of 30 lbs. A person may say,” God, I’m going to do this to get thirty pounds off,” but then all kinds of food temptation comes their way. They get invited to dinner parties, get asked out to dinner, have carts of delectable fatty deserts rolled in front of them, you name it. The devil does know how to tempt people to break their commitments. So that person who made that commitment before God ended up breaking that commitment after he gained weight. Then he jumps on his own case for failing to keep his commitment and take off the weight. But God knew all along what that person could do and He knew the commitment wouldn’t last.
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Or take New Year’s resolutions, they are commitments by another name, people make them without thinking. Why do I say that? Well, just think about it; how many people do you know who committed themselves to go to the gym every few days and get back into shape and quit after 1-2 months? Some people have made a New Years resolution-commitment to learn violin and get into the orchestra. They took lessens but they never bought their own violin, too expensive, and they stopped the lessens after a short while.
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Then we come to the Christian commitment. Not everyone who said “yes” to Jesus stayed with Jesus. With your permission and acceptance, I am going to paraphrase The parable of the sower sowing the seed from Mark 4:3-8.
“Here we have a spiritual farmer who is going to preach the word. He saw some people along his path and gave them some word. The did not like it so they let it drop. He came across some people who had rough personalities; they received the word and accepted Jesus. But, because of their old reputations, they were accepted into any ‘Christian’ groups; so, their commitment to God’s word fell flat. Later, the farmer met up with some shopping addicts. He preached to them and they accepted the word, and made a commitment to give their lives 100% to Christ. But the temptation to shop, gamble, and do all that worldly stuff got to heavy for them to bear by themselves, and no one would help them. They remained for a little while but failed on their commitments. Then he found some others who knew a little about family. He gave them the word and the accepted Jesus, made Him their Lord and committed their lives to Him. Because they were clean and well dressed (That shouldn’t make a difference) they were accepted into the family and they grew and became what God is looking for.”
As you can see, not all of them were able to keep their commitments to the Lord, but He knew that. I guess, what I am saying is that when we make our commitment to give our lives to God and make Jesus our Lord we need each other to help us stand on the word and keep to our commitment. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “No man is an island.” That saying is about a man trying to live for Christ alone, with no one to help him. He can’t do it for long, he needs others.
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In Genesis 2:18 God said that no man should be alone. Here He was talking specifically about making woman for man, but He was also talking about minister doing ministry. A thought just hit me, it didn’t hurt LOL. The old Sequoia Trees are so very tall but they don’t fall because of a very strong wind. This is because they are not alone, they have plenty of helpers, other Sequoias all around. I was told that they interlock their root systems. That sounds, to me, like a strong family bond.
“Jesus said, ‘Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.’” (John 6:29 The Message).
Now, when God calls you into a particular ministry; suppose He has called you to start a church and preach. Now suppose no one is coming to your church. Are you still going to preach? Did you commit to do whatever God tells you to do, no matter how stupid it would make you look or feel? Are you going to stick with your commitment?
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A while ago when I was in Tulsa in an apartment God told me to go out on the balcony and preach. He didn’t tell me that no one was going to be there, He just said preach, He told me what to preach. Well, I had already made that iron clad commitment that I would do what He told me; but, boy, did I feel like an idiot. Now, God has told me to start a church in Lyons, Kansas and preach. No one has come yet, but I am committed; so what should I do?
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I don’t see the results of my articles or my books because not many people write reviews or respond favorably. But I keep doing them because I had already committed myself. Are you committed to doing something like that of God that you don’t see the results of or you feel stupid doing?
“Jesus said, ‘Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.’” (John 6:29 The Message).