Commitment To God

Life is beautiful. Life is full of joys and blessings and countless laughters.  Smiles, butterflies, and nieces, and chocolate!
Nonetheless, it also has a way of throwing us curveballs.  We often find ourselves in situations where we have no clue what the next step is.  Maybe it is the overwhelming task of raising children, a struggling marriage, or a call to full-time ministry! (Which is where I find myself, now.)  No matter what the situation we find ourselves in, it can feel daunting.  Fortunately, as Christians, as children of God, we don't face these trials alone.  We are able to cast all our burdens and worries upon Jesus and look to Him in our time of need.  However, this is not our free ticket to our genie-in-a-bottle! Rather, we are called to be committed followers of Jesus.
Jesus says in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." 
Oxford dictionary defines 'commitment' as the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause; a      pledge; an engagement or undertaking that restricts freedom of action. Hence, a commitment to Jesus is a promise of complete dedication to Him and His ways at the expense of our own life and desires.  A commitment to God is denial of self for the sake of following Jesus....
Have I lost you yet?  Because truth be told, the topic of commitment has become quite taboo in American culture these days. Just mentioning the word, people feel bound and restricted--and that is not the American way.  We want to come and go as we please! We want to make our own decisions. We want to 'be grown.'
God, however, has made it very clear throughout scripture that we must decide whom we want to follow: we can choose the world, or we can choose Jesus. Matthew 6:24 states, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
Elijah also confronted his people and said, "How long will you waver between two options? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." 1 Kings 18:21
Jesus made his disciples choose: They had the option to stay behind and remain fishermen, or follow him and become fisher of men.
And in Luke, Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Repeatedly we see examples of Jesus calling his followers to chose between the things of this world and eternal life with him.  This decision to follow Jesus is not to be taken lightly.  God understands the importance of our commitment to him and has given us the gift of baptism to publicly display our love and devotion for Him. Similar to a marriage ceremony, baptism is our vow to be faithful to God.  We typically see marriages go through a 'honeymoon' stage--everything is great in the beginning.  The couple is so in love, but as time goes on, life happens, the honeymoon fades and the commitment to each other often fades as well.  Unfortunately, this happens in our walk with Christ as well.  We claim the title of 'Christian' and gladly accept the salvation that comes with our declaration of faith.  Then, we "pick and choose as if the teachings of Scripture were a buffet, where you just take what looks good to you and don't worry about the rest." (Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan) 
We are willing to go to church every Sunday, as long as it isn't raining, but don't ask about serving the homeless.
We are willing to drop some money in the offering basket occasionally, but don't mention missions.
God does not want us to be half-hearted in our relationship with him.  He wants all of us.  After all, He didn't love us part-time when he sacrificed his Son to die for us. Our commitment to Him is going to take sacrifice, but He understands what sacrifice means from the depths of His heart.  And He gave us this command: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30.
Jesus has more than anything that this world can offer us.  He has mercifully invited us into relationship with Him by saying to everyone, "If anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross and follow me." Luke 9:23.  He doesn't want us sitting on the sidelines contemplating His strength and majesty and sovereignty any longer.  He is the Great "I Am". 
We have a decision before us: either deny ourselves or deny Christ.