Commitment: A Disappearing Animal!

Commitment: A Disappearing Animal                                              Kelly Durant 8-24-14

2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

2. There is a sad story in one of the old classic novels about a couple crazy in love with each other. These older teens were always together, happy as can be, and engaged to be married. Everything seemed to be perfect, but it was not. One day John started seeing black dots that would not go away. He went to the ophthalmologist and he told him he was losing his sight and that he would be totally blind in about six months. He was heartbroken and went to tell Mary his sad news hoping to be comforted. He said, “I love you and we have no secrets” so he told her about his eyes.  But instead of her hand gripping his harder instead she let go and she was silent. He asked, ”What’s wrong? Talk to me!” After a minute of silence she said, “Well this is goodbye, I hope your life goes well, I could never marry a blind man!”

Imagine, so in love, yet so selfish and uncommitted! What an illustration to describe many situations today! Maybe someone close to you is being uncommitted and selfish! This type of lack of love and commitment from those close to us is what is killing us all inside. It disrupts us spiritually and consequently sickens us physically! A personal experience; my wife and I became very disillusioned with people when working with the deaf community.  Our oldest son Paul was born deaf and in Bolivia and Colombia we worked closely with the deaf schools and teachers to learn sign language which we used later to minister to other deaf sharing Jesus interpreting the messages and songs to everyone. It was a special time raising our son Paul; many extra hours of our day were spent on transporting and studying with him. We met with other parents and we were saddened to learn about how most deaf children are abandoned and raised by a single parent.

Our commitment to Paul was rewarded as he grew up to study hard, marry, and work 2 jobs to support his family of 2 sons ages 9 and 10! He is a responsible father and husband, shares his Christian faith all the time with his deaf friends, and he also likes to be funny and have fun! What peace we have to know that today he lives well! Parents that abandons an impaired child are criminal in my books and they are miss out on the blessings of seeing their own blood become prosperous and blessed! Deaf or impaired children (with autism, etc.) are not the difficult people, it is the parents! More than half of the parents abandon home when they find out that they have an impaired child as they do not want the responsibility and commitment of raising them! Only about 1 in every 4 parents ever learn sign language! In general I am expressing my disillusionment with the cruelty of people not committed to their own families, mates and children. How can you not be helping and giving a child the time and physical support needed? Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

3. This lack of dedication is also a parallel to the lack of spiritual commitment many people have in relation to obeying God; of not living a life pure committed and obedient to the Word of God! Their pleasures of sin come first! Abandonment and divorce is not just a statistic for the deaf community alone, but it is also about the same number in this country for the general populous, Christian or non-Christian, healthy or special.  If a person in love has only have a 50/50 chance of keeping the one they love, then a majority of the people today do not even want to bother with any commitment of getting married! In the end it is this undeserved privilege of non-commitment that presets families and relationships up for failure. If you are building a house you need to put some cement of faith and values underneath it to have a lasting foundation, right? If not, for sure it will fall and fail due to a lack of having a supernatural strength that overrides all human values of selfishness, inadequacy, and non-commitment.

Commitment involves loyalty and trust and this is something from God that money cannot buy! How many rich and famous stars get a love for a while only to discover later that this love wants to divorce and take millions?  Not even money can make people be committed and loyal until death do them part! So many people selfishly leave one for another for their own personal interests, so what outcomes do we observe? The uncommitted live their lives criminal as serial heartbreakers stealing away the life of another and murdering another’s inspiration and motive to live! Why is there no heart? Because they have no fear of God, consequences, hell or of nothing and they are of the father the devil and his works they will do as Jesus expressed here in John…

John 10: 10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. What people always forget is you reap what you sew, and usually these faithless uncommitted people end up all alone abandoned because no one cares for them as they did not care for anyone else except own their selves! A person may have fans, money, and fame, but when dead they will face judgment for not loving others as Jesus taught and reap the eternal consequences of the damage done! But to the contrary, a Christian does not want to “gain the whole world and lose his soul”!

4. The entire Bible is full of examples of loyal committed people and of the betrayal of uncommitted people. There are many stories of those who misplaced their trust or commitments. Samson and Delilah always come to mind. He was loyal to God for a long time, but then when he revealed his secret, he transferred his commitment from God to Delilah, and then the consequences were horribly severe! She was never loyal or committed to him! She never knew nor wanted to know our Jehovah God of love, nor knew what true love is. She was only persistent to know his secret to take away his power! Maybe he thought it would be the loving thing to do to share his secret, what harm could be done as lovers share all. But his misplaced commitment to her was horribly recompensed by being enslaved to her cruel pagan Philistine people who blinded him and mocked him. Samson lost his commitment to God and lost everything as a result!

Maybe it is time everyone took a long look at their commitments to those closest to them and determine if they are in God’s plan or not. Many times we spend so much time and energy on people (even those in our own family) that will never do anything for God, for us, or for anyone! Exactly who gets your dedication and takes up all your time? Are your commitments worth the investment? We answer to God for where our lives got invested and if any fruit became of it.

Basically everyone suffers in families, in the workplace, and in churches when certain people display the indifferent, uncommitted, and loyal to other things attitude.  When no one wants to be responsible for the daily operations of the Kingdom of God, then chaos ensues and the blame games begin. Commitment to God implies that each person takes on the role of a leader giving attention to all things so each group and ministry prospers and doesn’t just disappear. Basically our society has become infected with the selfish Delilah types who demand-their-benefits, rights, and power because they identify with pagan people live from plunder. Where are the tell-me-my-responsibilities types? The rapid decline in our quality-of-life is painfully felt in corrupt corporations, local authorities, and even in churches. The uncommitted people are dividing us! What has happened to our pride as noble human beings? Where is our commitment to God and family instead of to our individual selfish vanity?

5. Back to 2 Sam. 24:24, the focus today is on King David who was totally committed to God! He did make some horrible mistakes and had many ups and downs but he always repented and accepted his punishments and stayed committed to God.  The Psalms have been and still are a comfort to multi-millions because they were produced from David’s heart that was totally in love with God!  David esteemed his relationship with God as the most important thing in his life! David had an amazing commitment to expressing his feelings to God! When you are committed to God people notice your passion! You do loving acts of kindness, create inspiration, and possibly write down amazing inspired things!

Reflect on this piece of the verse of today, “neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing”. What is the context? David was getting a gift and he could have sacrificed the gift to God as he got it, but as we know a gift is something you get for free. In the old times under the Priesthood covenant in order to please God it was necessary to sacrifice something that made you feel some pain inside; it had to cost you something! For example, you did not just take any old lamb from your flock to the Levite Priest to sacrifice; you took him the best one you had without any flaws!

So the point is God is our Father, the Almighty,  the all-powerful Being who created us, whose presence invokes fear and respect, cannot be pleased with anyone trying to appease Him with something cheap not involving sacrifice! He deserves the best, and when we serve God, or give to God, we must give Him the best of what we have! What we sacrifice needs to cost us substantially, as it cost David. Some people want to give only what they want to give to God and church and then they want to get back. But being responsible and committed means you always show up to your commitments and when you can’t, you call on the Captains or someone to let them know you can’t make it! It’s like having a restaurant and having to tell people that today there will be no rice because the rice cook did not tell anyone they were not coming! It should never be like this but it is because few people take their commitments with God serious!

6. In the Salvation Army we always emphasize serving, and holy living, but what is it? It means that as each of us are willing to sacrifice our sin, selfishness, and indulgences for a clean life washed with God’s word so we are disciplined to be an example to others. It means being committed to God by being free from the enslaving sins that use to control all our mind’s thoughts and actions,  and we start refocusing all our thoughts and actions on God’s will from moment to moment. We get the help of the Holy Spirit to be guided on how to please and serve God when we ask for it.  This is why prayer is important; it is to express our needs and weaknesses to God, but prayer also is for you and I to hear from God for strength to discern what to be committed to discerning if we are obeying God as we should.

David spent a few weeks’ worth of wages on some oxen or animals to sacrifice for God, but how are you and I going to prove to God we are sacrificial and committed? Today it is not with animal sacrifices but it needs to be some kind of a sacrifice. One way is to donate a tithe to the Lord, and try Him to see if He will bless you or not! Mal.3:10   People that make financial commitments to God’s work seem to always prosper in life and haven’t you and I have seen these blessings be reaped over and over? But this is only the material.

An important way to prove your commitment to God is spiritually by putting prayer and Bible study into your daily schedule. Wake up 20 minutes earlier, or give up a TV show; do something to fit in the feeding of your spirit because only by doing it daily will you grow spiritually. You would never think of only eating one day a week, right? You would get thin and starve, and the same it is with feeding your spirit.  Sunday is just a feast day, your meals should be daily with you and Jesus!

7. So how can we get ourselves and others to be more committed and be more blessed from God? Each person (you) must be an example and chose their own commitment to God within their capacity! Do you know how commitments work? They are like the hog and chicken agreeing they want to support the church with a fundraising breakfast. The chicken all excited says, “We will supply the ham and egg breakfast!” The pig suddenly looks frightened and the chicken asks, “What’s wrong?” The pig responds, “Well, for you it is a donation from your day to day life, but for me it means a total sacrifice”! Many times the pigs chosen disappear!

Many people avoid God and churches as they don’t feel ready to be committed fearing that God will want everything from them! It is true, God wants to use as much as you will let Him! But every person has a different calling and capacity. God calls some to be like the hen, and He calls others to sacrifice everything like the pig. What God expects from you is between you and Him and deep inside you know what to give. But how you give or perform duties affects everyone!

Luke 9:23-24 And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

8. The only thing about church is quite often people do not sacrifice much at all for it and then they get frustrated thinking it is the pastor or somebody’s fault when something is lacking or the problems appear but the reality is it could be they who are failing God to fill a needed position! In a typical church the uncommitted people arrive late, rarely donate or give anything, and rarely commit to help with anything. Often they do not even listen to the sermon! Raise your hand if you can repeat the last 4 words of what I said…(look around) you see! Can you say ? Wake yourself and others up! We are here to progress and mature spiritually but that depends on you hearing, growing, and committing!

People forget that just because one does not see God in person, does not mean that He does not know all your thoughts, words, attitudes, commitments, and actions!    2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

A commitment is in the end a sacrifice that costs you! All places in this life demand everything from you! In college the football guy with a scholarship trains day and night and he cannot only give half of himself on the field or in class or he is kicked out. The person employed cannot work half the time or half-hearted or he/she loses the job. Concerning God’s work, what is sad is seeing people who are not doing much for God but they are only dedicated to things of their own survival or pleasure. Is it not unfair that in the church some people do not want to dedicate even just a few extra hours? What is wrong? We should have not 10 people show up prepared to do their duties, but all 50 Soldiers should be in service to do the best we can!

9. Many people do not listen to what is going on, or pay attention to God’s leadings, or even ask how to help! God wants to use everyone’s passions, talents, time, and treasure for his glory. Ninety-nine people may walk through the front door but only one will ask, “Who waters the flowers?” And if the answer is no one, what do you think God wants that person asking to do? To water the flowers! Do you see how this works?

What you commit to God will most likely be an area that only you are aware of that needs attention. When you feel critical or bothered, or see something is not getting attended to, what does that mean? It means you may be the one getting the call to be committed to doing that task since God spoke to you about it! But please stay faithful at it! Don’t do 2 weeks and quit!

And being committed to God does not mean you are sitting around waiting for the Captains or leaders to appoint you a job, it means that you see a job that needs to be done and you confirm it is okay for you to just do it! I know how we all think; in our minds we calculate the scope of the job and then think, oh no, this will cost me an extra 3 hours this week! Well, no matter what it costs you, do it and see how you good you feel! Those who give and serve always reap the satisfaction of seeing the job getting done and they get to share in the pride and glory of it!

Are you ready to give until it hurts? Probably not, but God will give you the strength! Are you willing to let your commitments cost you something? You must sew to reap! Just give in and trust God! In life are you committed to your family and loved ones as you should be? Serving God means serving your family to learn about the Bible and how to serve Him no matter how hard it is to get from here to there!

10. Don’t run away from your responsibilities as many do in life! Those that quit never get to share the in the final glory! There is a lack of leadership being manifested across the nation in all places, in offices of authority, and sadly in the church as well. Due to this many people suffer and tasks are not getting done. Step up to the plate if you want God’s eyes on you!

Make of yourself a person useful to God and others! Be like that animal that gets sacrificed on the altar! Don’t be like a pig that wants to run and disappear!  A child must depend on others for food and needs when growing up, but when he or she is an adult, then they are expected to feed not only their selves, but those of their family as well. A leader serves those in need not just in the church, but in the local community as well; all for the glory of God! Don’t brag when you do something either. Matthew 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

Do you feel frustrated with yourself because you have never committed very much to God? Tired of your self being half-hearted? Can you as David say, “Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing”? Come and let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to empower you for the task God has for you to do! Jesus, the Corps and the community need you! Just sign a blank piece of paper (or in our case a Local Leader one) and let God fill in the tasks He has for you to do!