Commitment

Commitment: the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity;

 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin,^[b] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

John 11”14-16 ESV

  Let me ask an important question and that is, what is your commitment level?  No matter what we are involved in, work at, or participate in, we have a commitment level.  The levels vary anywhere to totally committed or all in to you not wanting to touch it with a twenty foot pole.  Our commitment level often determines our effort level and our attitude effort are high and we go at it with full gusto.  There are times when we may not want to do it, but we still give it all and get it done.  One of the people I follow on Insta Gram is Farm Fit Mamma (I think her real name is Amanda) combines fitness and the farm life.  She is so dedicated that she puts out motivational and informational videos to show how she goes about how to eat and exercise.  She even created online groups to provide encouragement and accountability to other woman to want to make lifestyle changes.  The opposite side of this laziness.  The only way something gets done is because one has to do it, and is just avoiding the consequences.  It tends to get done half assed and these type of commitment are the people are usually the last ones in and first ones out.  If they can get someone else to do it, they can find some great excuse why it didn’t get done.  Lets explore several different kinds of commitment that are found through out the New Testament that I think are worth looking at.  Now this is not an exhaustive list and there probably more, but these are the ones that are jumping out at me right now. 

   The first one an apathetic commitment.  We can see this in our Scripture passage above and the Thomas is the perfect example of it.  Lazarus, who happens to be a follower of Jesus and also a dear friend has died, and for whatever reason Jesus waited a few extra days to go to Lazarus house.  Thomas statement is telling, because he probably heard the rumors and the gossip that the religious leaders wanted Jesus to at least disappear or even die.  Thomas statement is telling because he was telling the world that yes, he was committed to the cause of Jesus, and will do what is required of Him, but don’t ask him to go above and beyond.  I think the apathetic commitment is all about the have to and not want to or there is some sort of expectation by themselves or others that they do this.  There is no joy, happiness, and they are there either because they invested to much, or they can’t find anything better because they don’t try. The phrase “I’m here” applies to this form of commitment.

    The second form of commitment is the flash.  These people get excited about a cause and show their loyalty to it, either until there is some sort of adversity or the fuel runs out.  They either do not count the cost of the said commitment, or they are not wise with their time and energy and they burn out.  The perfect example of this is the Apostle Peter.  He told Jesus that he would follow Him anywhere even to death.  When it was time for the rubber to hit the road and Peter was following behind Jesus during His trial and beatings, Peter flat out denied knowing Jesus three times.  In essence they are there until it cost them something great and then they are out.  To paraphrase the famous line from the Bad Boys movie trilogy there is no riding together and dying together because someone ends up jumping out of the car.

   The third form of commitment is a silent committed.  They are committed, but they don’t want anyone to know, because they are afraid of the backlash and consequences.  These type of commitments usually lurk in the background doing things and often are never seen or heard from, but you see there work.  The perfect example of this Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus,  they were apart of the religious leadership and if they privately went to Pilate to get the body of Jesus so they could bury Him in a new tomb before the Sabbath.  were caught burring Jesus in a new tomb, there would have been at least a bad social stigma attached to them.  This kind of commitment, people are often more worried about reputation than character. 

   The fourth form of commitment is all in.  I wish I had a better name for it, but this type of person is committed to the cause, does not matter the cost and they perform their duties to the best of their abilities.  It often goes from being forced to do it, wanting to do it, to needing to do it.  The all in commitment is not about me and look what I am doing, but it is about the cause.  Most of these people go unnoticed and never get fully recognize for the work they do.  One Biblical example of this is Simon of Cyrene.  I know this might be a stretch, but here me out.  Jesus was so weak where He could not carry His own cross, so Simon did to the place where Jesus was crucified.  There has to be some sort of commitment level to publicly carry the cross of an alleged anarchist and who everybody wanted dead.   Being committed sometimes mean doing something that isn’t popular and you will get scorned for.  I think of Rosa Parks who was suppose to sit at the back of the bus, but chose to sit up front and chose to show the value that all people have, and not just a particular groups of people.

    To finish up this blog, being fully committed means that we bear our cross.  This means that at times we do things, that aren’t easy, fun, and counter cultural and we will be mocked for.  We are all fully committed to something, is it being lazy, apathetic, or all in.  In essence we are all obedient to something or someone, and is that to ourselves, others, or God.  There is only one that provides the endurance, strength and adds value not only to our life but also the lives of others, and that is fulling bearing our cross and being obedient to what God has called us to do.