Thursday, July 14, 2022
What Does Commitment Really Look Like?
When we find restoration in our lives to God, follow-through is required if it is real. If it is just words and no real commitment, those around you will see that. True commitment requires obedience. Israel knew that they must do what God had said to do to restore their relationship with Him. They must follow through with action to show true commitment and obedience to Him.
So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone. 1 Samuel 7:4 NASB
What your feet won't do your heart has rejected. What does that mean? That means that if you really mean it – in your heart – there will be action for the world to see. Your obedience will be on display for everyone to see. Obedience is following the next revealed step that God directs us, and most of the time that is all we see. The step is often made with no idea of what comes after it or what is down the path or around the corner. But if God tells us to step then we better step. It is outer action that begins with an inner attitude and response that results in a right attitude toward God and men. This may mean getting baptized, witnessing, teaching, or discipleship for service. It is a physical manifestation of your devotion and commitment to the Lord. If we only say we are committed and never change anything, then nothing in our lives will change. Real change requires some action on our part.
You can be sure that anytime you reinforce your commitment to God, the devil is lurking somewhere close by ready to trip you up. In fact, he likes northing more than to help us fall in our weakness. One thing he uses to bring fear and insecurity to our minds is past failures. Israel was remembering some of their past failures against the Philistines.
Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 1 Samuel 7:7 NASB
The real test of our commitment is how we respond to that which was the source of our former defeat. If we let it, it can knock us completely off track, which is what Satan wants. He wants us to feel like a failure and that we are not capable of doing what God has led us to do. But the action of living in the faith we have today instead of the defeats of the past shows our real commitment.
The faith that we have today can overcome the defeat of the past in our mind. We don’t have to let the defeat of the past be our story for today. God has the victory over all our past defeats, and He has the victory over today and tomorrow too. Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines." 1 Samuel 7:8 NASB
The Israelites struggled because they were at an all-time low. They were far away from God and had lost the Ark to their enemies. They needed to remember how to live in the faith of today over the doom of yesterday. The Israelites could not do it without turning back to God. They could never do it without Him in the first place. We could not do it on our own before and we will not be able to do it now. When you got saved you did not lose your weakness and you will not lose it now. You gain a power to overcome it. Hope is found, not in our own strength or power, but in the known presence of God.
Knowing Him, stepping out in obedience to His call on our lives, and giving Him the glory for the victories He gives us in our lives is how we live in the faith of today, overcoming the defeats of the past.
