Scripture: Book of Ruth 1 v 16-17: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
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 of Kings 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'. The Bible calls these carnal Christians.
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 Golgotha where the Blood of Jesus cleanses everyone of all sin.
We are at the last day of the year so let us make a commitment to move from carnal, prayerless, pointless religion to a deeper spiritual life in unity with God and the Body of Christ. Brothers and Sisters let us be of one mind and purpose to carry out the Great Commission to preach the gospel to every one.
Thank you for your love and support this year, I pray that 2017 will be a wonderful and fruitful year filled with the blessing of peace from Almighty God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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. In Jesus' name. Amen.
