by Mrs. Ruby Cerejo
These are days when nobody wants 'commitment'. The word commitment is very unpleasant to most ears. Yet God is looking for commitment on each of us because commitment is a form of spiritual discipline which leads to the fruit of the Holy Spirit – the fruit of faithfulness.
What does commitment mean ?
Commitment means bending oneself to a cause or to a course of action with single mindedness of purpose. The scriptures in Philippians 3:7-14 and the punch line is verse 10. In the preceding verses Paul is boasting about background. He is trying to establish his credibility with his listeners. He was a Jew, was circumcised, a pharisee zealous about his faith to the point of persecuting the Christians, but whatever was to my profit i consider it loss..............because of Christ (Verse:8)
Verse:9 he considered all the responsibility of the world as so much rubbish.
Paul's similarity with us :
St. Paul was not like the other apostles who had walked and talked with the Lord. His experience was rather a mystical experience on the way to Damascus (Act:9). Yet he was faithful to that experience. In every letter, he never failed to speak about death – resurrection of the Lord.
What about us ? Is our experience and encounter with the Lord worth treasuring? Is it worth treasuring in our hearts or have we forgotten our first love? Can we sincerely say with St. Paul "I want the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ for whose sake I have lost everything and am ready to lose everything".
Things we are supposed to have left behind :
My own plans and agenda. Is Jesus the Lord of my time? Of every minute of my days? My desires of the flesh which leads me to sin. Is Jesus the Lord of my life? If sin still has a hold on my life then I have returned to my Egypt like the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt in the book of Numbers. They grumbled constantly against the Lord and so the Lord let them wander for 40 years in the desert till all those who had grumbled against him perished in the desert. It was the next generation that was led by Joshua to the promised land.
Am I faithful to my daily personal prayer, my scripture reading/study, my prayer meetings. Or are all these dependent on my moods and feeling. We need to check this out from time to time.
Is Jesus Lord of my relationships? am I with total peace with God with myself and with each and every brother and sister or am I still harbouring and nursing grudges and resentment Romans 6:2, especially verse 6.
Commitment means perseverance :
Persistence in prayer even when nothing seems to be happening Luke 11:5-8. Commitment means holding on to the lord in faith – like Elijah praying for rain on the top of mount carmel in
1 Kings 18 : 41. One man's hand was raised in intercession and brought down the rain.
Commitment means constant death and resurrection (Philippians 3:10). Paul wants to know Christ and the Power of his resurrection becoming like him in his death. There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.
Commitment means picking ourselves up after. We have fallen and returning back to the arms of a loving father like the prodigal son. Philippians 3:12 "I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heaven work in Christ Jesus".
Commitment means breaking free of the past sometimes the past clings to us with tenacity.
Commitment means discipline – Practice makes perfect – the tennis player, the musician as well as the mountain climber.
(1 Corinthians 9:24)
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Paul says again in Philippians 3:12 "Forgetting what is behind and striving for what is ahead, I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward". Our prize is in heaven. That's our final goal.
In the meantime we have short term goals which we need to put into effect each day.
These short term goals are :
- Reschedule time for prayer : seek his face daily and aim with the Lord's help to become a worshiper because God the father seeks people who will worship him in Spirit and in truth (John 4 : 23)
- Deepen the study of the word of God and apply it to your life. This will keep Satan constantly in the run.
- Be determined to live out the word at any cost. Be doers of the word and not mere hearers only deluding yourselves (James 3:22)
- Be determined to get SIN firmly and definitely out of your life especially the habitual sins. Every sin starts in the mind. It is at first a mere suggestion, which if encouraged gathers strength and becomes a compulsion.
Four steps need to be practiced systematically to get sin completely out of our lives.
- Recognize : Satan's trap. The Holy spirit will prompt you and make you aware of the trap.
- Reject : the thought immediately . Don't toy with it.
- Rebuke : the thought in Jesus name.
- Replace : the thought with something good and noble (Philippians 4:8)
Lord Jesus pour out your spirit afresh on us. Holy spirit give us the grace of commitment and help us grow in holiness