Personal Commitment to God

My oldest granddaughter is an “adventurer” (her description).  She was here for a visit, and we spent a whole day at the Mall of America.  She loves the rides in their indoor amusement park. This year she wanted to try the ropes course.  It’s “way up there”-I’m not sure of the exact measurements- but I’ll call it “scary high”.  I agreed to go with her.  It was all fine as I was being harnessed, clipped in for safety, and walking up the stairs.  There were no issues until I had to take that first step onto a tiny wiggly board high above the ground.  I had made a personal commitment, and I had to follow through.

As I looked down at my feet (and the floor far below), I thought of the word “commitment.” It was too late to turn back. I had committed to my granddaughter.  I stepped onto that wiggly board. Ugh.

I also thought, “somehow this will make a good blog post.” Well, our personal commitment to God does have many similarities!

How Do I Commit Myself to God?

As Christians, we have made a personal commitment to accept Jesus’ sacrifice as an atonement for our sin.  We accept that he paid the price in our place, and in doing so, we also give our life back to Him for His service. 

It is like any other commitment we make- sometimes we fail in keeping up our end of the bargain.  Our personal commitment to God is an ongoing process.

Our commitment to him involves honestly assessing our direction in life.

We should check our safety harness (are we keeping God close?) and watching where we put our feet (are we following his path?)

Are we keeping our focus (where are my priorities?), and moving forward (growing in our faith?)

When we step off course, do we quickly turn back onto His path?

Benefits of Commitment to God

There will be times where our palms are sweaty with fear, and we face difficult steps. In those times, remember to: 

“Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust Him, and he will help you.” (Psalm 37:5 NLT)  “Commit to Him and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3 NIV)  His plans for us are good! 

Staying on God’s course for your life brings blessings!  The work he asks us to accept is easy.  The load he gives us to carry is light. (Matthew 11:30 NLT) He never leaves us alone, and he graces us with hope in the journey. 

He gives us the peace we can’t understand (especially in precarious positions!) and drives out fear. I could fill pages with the benefits he promises!

Serving God Requires Total Commitment

We won’t reach that final platform and “unclip our harness” until we are safely in heaven.  Along the way, however, we can take steps to stay on course.

Commitment to a life with Jesus is total:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  (Mt 22:37) 

Our legs may get shaky from the exertion it takes, but we press on. Walking and climbing our spiritual path will grow our faith.  

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 NLT  (More blessings!)

God doesn’t leave us up on the course by ourselves.  He gave us his Holy Spirit to walk and climb right next to us, giving us strength. 

He will encourage us when life feels like a frightfully skinny tightrope high off the ground.  God will remind us of how he guided us through difficult paths in the past so we can persevere now.

When we reach the end of our course, we can say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)  We will receive our spiritual reward of an eternity in heaven!

That will be much better than the “reward” I received on my ropes course.  Once we made it to the top, our “reward” was a harrowing ride down a 4 story twirly slide. Which we did. Twice.

Blessings in the journey!

Whee!!!!

AnnMarie