True Commitment

Thinking about commitment this week with regards to ministry and leadership. I could be flippant and joke about our potential need to "be committed" institutionally, and some days it feels that way when the craziness of life weighs heavily upon us. But seriously, what does it mean to be committed?

Those of us in leadership in ministry must guard against what commitment is not. Commitment is not giving yourself to the work of the ministry. That pronouncement may puzzle you at first glance, but this statement reflects a critical truth - your life depends on it. God's call on your life is not to the work of the ministry; God's call is to commit yourself to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Period. For many well intentioned leaders, we initially devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Christ, receiving his life and abiding in him - taking our place "in Him" as so many scriptures testify. But somewhere along the line, we fall into the subtle idolatrous trap of devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to the work of the ministry. Slaving 24/7 to this brutal task master, we drift and lose our way. Soon we aren't "living, moving, and having our being" in the Living One; instead we toil in our own strength and limited resources - dry, famished and fatigued because we're too busy working to come to the One whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

As the Apostle Paul reflected on his ministry and service to God’s people, he made a profound assertion. Paul’s declaration forms the foundation for authentic Christian leadership. Without tapping into this essential truth, it is impossible to embody the kind of leadership that honors God and truly blesses God's people. Paul writes, “To this end [pursuing the call] I labor, struggling with all his [Christ’s] energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29). Paul labored and struggled in ministry, not in his own strength and limited resources, but with all of Christ’s energy, powerfully at work in him. Christ promised, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8). The Greek word translated power, is dynamin, as in dynamite! Believers receive spiritual dynamite when they receive the Holy Spirit. In that defining moment, one’s life pursuit becomes Christ crucified, and the joy-filled desire to share that sacrificial love with the whole world. Christ’s energy, His life-giving, Resurrection power, is at work in you! Have you fully surrendered and yielded to it? Have you fully availed yourself to it? As you do, it will no longer be you who serves, but it will be Christ who serves His people through you. Paradoxically, then and only then, will you become a spiritual leader.

As one among the Company of the Committed, make sure you remain true to your first Love, and flee the temptation to be committed to anything or anyone other than Jesus the Messiah.