Roman 6 v 13: "Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God."
In many areas of life we need to make a firm commitment
:- To study well at school; to be a
faithful spouse; to succeed in a career; to serve the Lord our God
wholeheartedly; to perform our work ethic to a high standard. Our character is
revealed by how well we keep our commitments.
Ruth, by her own will and desire after the death of her
husband, chose to commit her life to following Naomi, her mother-in-law, to her
own land, Israel. She left her land,
idols and religion to serve the one true God, and stated "where you
go, I go, where you die, I die". Naomi had been a wonderful role model and
mentor to Ruth, but she was surprised at Ruth's fervent desire to follow her to
her homeland.
We need to commit our lives to Jesus the same way. All or
nothing. Turn our backs on sin, corruption, lies and all evil to follow the
righteous King into everlasting life. Too many people "rent a place at the
altar" to re-commit their lives to Jesus every few weeks when they live
their lives selfishly and 'in the flesh'.
Total commitment means that you see Jesus for who He is -
the only begotten Son of God, who came to Earth to save sinners. He laid down
His own life to break the power of death for every human being. He committed
His all as a ransom to redeem us all. What should our response be to such a
sacrifice?
We should be willing to lay our selfish lives aside and
become part of God's eternal plan to save the world. It means giving up habits
and behaviour that the sinful world call fun and games. The sinful world watch
us critically to expose any bad behaviour that justifies them not following
Jesus. They mock Christians who live as they do.
So we need to show the world the power of Jesus to change
and transform us into a new creation of people that live holy, moral and
dignified lives; forsaking sin and evil practices to honour the Lamb of God who
saved them.
If Jesus is real to us we can make Him real to sinners by
the pure light that shines through us.
If we continue to smoke cigarettes or marijuana; get
drunk; sleep around or indulge in pagan religious activities disguised as
Christianity then sinners will remain unmoved by our witness for the life of
Jesus. Our work for Jesus is to be a true pure witness that draws sinners to
the Cross where the Blood of Jesus cleanses of all sin.
Prayer: Father God, as Jesus placed Himself in Your hands
on this Earth; in Gethsemane; in the Judgment Hall, on Golgotha, and in
Paradise awaiting His resurrection, so do I commit myself into Your hands, into
Your kingdom forever. As the dead saints of old followed Jesus out of Paradise
into Heaven and were seen by many on their way through, so do I follow Him
through life and death and resurrection into Your Kingdom. (Matthew 27 v 50 - 52). In Jesus' name. Amen.