Luke 9:23 "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
When missionary Dr. David Livingstone was working in Africa, a group of friends wrote him: “We would like to send other men to you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?” Dr. Livingstone sent this message in reply: “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
There’s a big difference between just being interested in doing something and actually making a commitment to doing it! Just being interested allows us the freedom to do a thing only when our circumstances make it convenient for us. But making a commitment to do that thing means accepting no excuses and no reservations — it means putting aside our fears and reservations moving forward till we see the end result! Dr. Livingstone was looking for results, and this required men of commitment!
Jesus states that we must deny ourselves. That means that we must deny what we want to do and do what He wants us to do. That is difficult for most today because society pulls at us with the thought of "whatever I want is most important". But that is so contrary to what God says. We have to put our desires on the back burner when it comes to God and his work.
We used to sing a song at church camp that I attended when I was in Jr. High and we sang it every night for vespers service. It was "I Have Decided To Follow Jesus". If you know it, the lyrics are very strong and to even sing the song, one needs to make a conscious decision because to make this commitment, it will take 100% of our being. It starts with a decision to Follow Jesus, secondly, a promise that we will follow even if we are the only ones to do so. It ends with a statement that our eyes are fixed on the cross and nothing else. We put the world behind us and the cross before us. That is true commitment!
With 2009 under way, let’s make some commitments! Let's make solid commitments to our Lord and our church. They deserve it. There is so much work to do, that it will require our 100% dedication, and really, doesn't God deserve it? That's the real question we must answer.
