"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."
Proverbs 16:3
I was thinking about commitment today... that maybe that is what keeps us from our potential. We love the Lord, but somehow we also love Satan. And, because we are torn by the two sides... of life, of ourselves... desiring something of both, we never firmly commit to God. Or we do, and then re-think things at the first sign of temptation. If you think about it in terms of a relationship, which it really is, you can see how awful it is. God is our best friend one day, and the next we are bad-mouthing him, saying that he is okay, but Satan is our *real* friend. Like we are twelve again, and so desperate for acceptance that we don't really care what relationships we destroy.
On the other side of the scripture are thoughts, and I find this interesting as well. We wonder how to purge our thoughts of evil, to stop desiring things that are bad... we think this is why we can't commit. The truth is though, that commitment to correct action comes first. Then the thoughts clear up... then we find that inner peace that we are after... because we've finally made the right choice, and we aren't trying to balance on the fence anymore.
Commitment is a hard thing sometimes... whenever we commit to one thing we give up other possibilities. When we choose to go to lunch at one restaurant, we give up the choices at another restaurant, or the chance to order pizza, or the tuna fish sandwich we might have made for ourselves. When we take the analogy beyond food to whatever our chosen obsession is, it seems scarier. But until we make that choice about lunch, we are never going to get any food. And until we make that choice, we never have the chance to make the next one, and the next.
Choices are the way that we progress in life... towards Satan or towards God, and everything we do is going to bring us closer to or further away from our goal. Avoiding commitment is avoiding progression... avoiding the relationship entirely. We can't become closer to God when we refuse to make any choices regarding him. Today... let’s try committing to God. See what possibilities it opens up.
Proverbs 16:3
I was thinking about commitment today... that maybe that is what keeps us from our potential. We love the Lord, but somehow we also love Satan. And, because we are torn by the two sides... of life, of ourselves... desiring something of both, we never firmly commit to God. Or we do, and then re-think things at the first sign of temptation. If you think about it in terms of a relationship, which it really is, you can see how awful it is. God is our best friend one day, and the next we are bad-mouthing him, saying that he is okay, but Satan is our *real* friend. Like we are twelve again, and so desperate for acceptance that we don't really care what relationships we destroy.
On the other side of the scripture are thoughts, and I find this interesting as well. We wonder how to purge our thoughts of evil, to stop desiring things that are bad... we think this is why we can't commit. The truth is though, that commitment to correct action comes first. Then the thoughts clear up... then we find that inner peace that we are after... because we've finally made the right choice, and we aren't trying to balance on the fence anymore.
Commitment is a hard thing sometimes... whenever we commit to one thing we give up other possibilities. When we choose to go to lunch at one restaurant, we give up the choices at another restaurant, or the chance to order pizza, or the tuna fish sandwich we might have made for ourselves. When we take the analogy beyond food to whatever our chosen obsession is, it seems scarier. But until we make that choice about lunch, we are never going to get any food. And until we make that choice, we never have the chance to make the next one, and the next.
Choices are the way that we progress in life... towards Satan or towards God, and everything we do is going to bring us closer to or further away from our goal. Avoiding commitment is avoiding progression... avoiding the relationship entirely. We can't become closer to God when we refuse to make any choices regarding him. Today... let’s try committing to God. See what possibilities it opens up.
Amen!
ReplyDeleteThat is good!
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