March 6th, 2012 Pr. Cesar Palacios
Scripture: Colossians 3:23-24

To consider this subject we must start by understanding we are all Christians and leaders in His work and because we have Jesus in our hearts, then our greatest love must be for The Savior, for there must be nobody else sitting on the throne of our hearts. If we love Him as deeply then we are willing to do anything for Him, because love is shown by facts.

When we talk about commitment we must understand what that word means, and according to the dictionary it is: “an obligation kept voluntarily in which all our abilities are involved in order to comply with what is said” and amongst the many examples of commitment we can think of, there’s marriage.

When we take on a commitment it’s because we are willing to give it all for it and be effective on the one thing we have committed to, let it be home, business, company, ministry, personal goals, etc. When we say we are into something it´s because we are going to do it well, as for The Lord. That’s when we need to learn how to do commitment.

It’s transcendental to learn how to be committed because when we are, we become magnets of others. When developing our ministry we show we want to serve Him, and everything is built upon people around our lives, sooner or later someone will be drawn to you by seeing that you are one of those who truly faces commitments.

Sadly when people is summoned there are many leaders who find it hard to commit and still want to be well tended, but a disciple of Jesus’ must walk as He did and if there was something He did well was committing to the church without limitation.

Our lack of commitment has spread to our family and transmitted to society and that is why people never develop a sense of belonging even on their own lives; we see it in people who leave their job for another one that give them more money with a complete disregard for what’s left behind, to go after other things.

We also see it happening within a couple’s relationship when they already have children and but just won’t get married!

The thing is that if we really want to be the way God wants us to, we need to learn to be committed people.

People who want come closer to us, no matter what they say will be always checking us up the way we used to do be when it was us checking our leaders up to see if they were committed as well with the church and with all the things they taught us, because that was the seed being planted in our hearts.

We see it when God told Moses to get his leaders ready and choose from within them those who could help with the judging for He would give from Moses’ spirit, since he was committed to the cause of The Lord which was the deliverance of the people.

Some mentors think that given their condition they don’t need to work so hard, but our disciples are always waiting for us to worship The Lord and serve Him just as much by committing to the church… if we really rejoice in that worship! Otherwise those disciples will only want a change of leader by someone who may be challenging and interesting to learn from. So let us be careful, the bible punishes strongly those who hinder the growth of others not letting them reach their Divine purpose.

Familiar commitment is just as important, since those who can’t commit with their own family, simply can’t commit to anything which is why we find erratic people unable to even help their own family follow the principles of God and Him in turn won’t think of them to bless them in a transcendental way, but rather to give them only small things.

You are forced to move on. God demands it from us (Gen.1:22) and when we don’t, then those around start getting tired of us; wives are tired of seeing their husbands getting stuck. It is when we reach our dreams that we can move on.

Commitment is important because it breaks all doubts and fear, and God’s word must be kept with The Lord first, but also with those you commit to, that is why the scripture says: “Do it all for The Lord”, because there are in fact times when you just don’t feel like doing it, and if you know that all you do is for The Lord then love to keep on going flows and we do everything at our best.

When we nurture our faith (Romans 10:17) A very common mistake is to commit with the unknown. God is to be known and the more we study the bible, the more trust we gain in the one we are to commit to. If I study the bible I will know who God is without a doubt and He won’t let us fall, but we must know Him first hand and not by what others tell us, but by my relationship with Him, and if I know Him I will want to commit to Him, and all of that which goes out of His will mustn’t even come across our minds

Evaluating our decisions permanently and what we are achieving so far: this helps us every day to measure our level of commitment. Sometimes we evaluate results when there is nothing to be done.

One goal our church has involved into is to take 15.000 people to encounter this year, but if we wait by the end of the year to look into that then we’ll blame the devil or people around for the things we don’t do and the challenges we didn’t reach. When our commitment is clear we’ll constantly be evaluating and checking our goals, while praying with our disciples about them on how we’re doing, and it is the same with whatever our leaders tell us… if they have something to teach us, as it is the only way to learn and keep our commitment alive! We need to keep track on the processes we’ve followed to get there.

As this first trimester comes to an end we’d do good in checking about the events of our lives and see if they’ve brought us closer to God’s purpose in our lives.

Breaking with emotionalism: commitment is a basic tool for this; it helps us keep on growing. People do great but at some point they follow their emotions and that takes them to wrong choices, they become picky, they don’t want to forgive, they are sensitive about their leader telling them anything, they become hard to talk to.
We need to consider that when dealing with personal relationships there will always be friction and conflict, and sadly there are cases in which people actually adapts to those situations… something like a rusted hinge always making an annoying sound you get used to with time… some leaders hear their disciples complaint constantly and so thy become used to that, but instead of going to The Lord in search for help, realizing He is the oil of their lives, they rather throw everything and leave; so they begin taking the wrong attitudes and become emotional

The outcome of commitment (Colossians 3:24) The Lord won’t leave us without reward, and when we don’t believe in that we become desperate and run away; we don’t assume our commitment because we believe that since God did “nothing” before then He won’t do it later, and it just so happens that in the very moment when we choose to “throw the towel”, our Lord was coming toward us with our reward. So be patient and perseverant because we do have His promises and He says He will heal and provide and that there won’t be any more affliction. Our Lord gives us privileges but also responsibilities and we must face them just the same because we are committed people!
If He gives us the privilege to minister the nations, then let us enjoy doing it while facing our commitment fully.

It creates a sense of belonging: for those who don’t have it, then going to church mean nothing because they don’t find identity in there, they don’t feel home, they don’t want to participate in the building ideas and process. No sense of belonging at home rotten its foundation. The thing to do is to ask The Savior to give us that sense of belonging thus avoiding serious consequences. People can’t count on us and we become the non-committed member of the family. We need to change that pattern and make sure that in everything we do… we do our very best!