January 24 - Basic Commitments
Due to our ineffective ways of evangelizing others, many new believers have no clue as how to live their Christian life. To become a child of God, one has to declare to God, “You are my Lord.” We are saved if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord and that we want to follow Him the rest of our lives. But what comes after that?
The first basic commitment is the commitment to accept God’s definition of “good”. Prior to conversion, we have accepted many “good” things and they are still part of our lives. Some of these “good” things are actually contrary to God’s definition of “good” and we must abandon them. It is “good” for others to make a lot of money through some tricky means but it is not “good” for us. It may be “good” for others to lie once in a while but it is not “good” for us. A follower of Jesus must commit to what is “good” according to God’s standard, and there is no “good” apart from Him.
The second basic commitment is about others who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are one family because of the blood of Jesus. They are the saints in the land and we must look at them as excellent ones in whom is all our delight. Despite of all the flaws and weaknesses, we must look at other children of God from the perspective of God. If God has justified them and regarded them as righteous, how can we despise any of them? We are all on our way to glory and let us regard other believers as glorious since they will be like that one day.
The third commitment is to cut off our prior commitments to other gods. We are no longer going to run after them, not to partake of their offerings and not to take on their names on our lips. When we commit our lives to Jesus, we must cut off any connection to idols. If we serve Jesus and also other gods, our sorrows will multiply. Have you renounced other gods when you trusted in Jesus?
The fourth commitment is to take whatever is from the Lord. The Lord is our chosen portion and our cup, He is our inheritance and our inheritance is beautiful. After becoming His children, we have only one request: to have God in our lives. When we have God, we have everything. There is no need to go after the things of this world any more, God is all-sufficient. The all sufficiency of Christ is to be taught in our churches and we have to subscribe to this very important concept. If Jesus is not enough for us, then we have to go after other things, other people or other gods.
Proverbs teaches us to take care of our heart for it will be our life and healing. Our heart is the wellspring of life, it can bring us our well-being. Are you fully committed to Him in these four areas?
Ps 16:1-6 Gen 48:1-49:33 Matt 15:29-16:12 Prov 4:20-27