Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Luke 9:23-24 (NIV)
Commitment means certain decisions are made in advance, irrespective of the circumstances:
I will honor Christ, whatever the pain and whatever the cost.
I will obey His Word, even when that is the hardest thing to do.
I will do what He has called me to do when its draining as well as when it’s fulfilling.
There is no other way to follow Jesus.
Businesses understand the importance of making decisions in advance. This is why the vast majority of effective organizations have some kind of vision or mission statement. Creating a statement like this is never easy, but a company will not succeed if it keeps shifting its objective. You cannot simply decide what to do on a moment-by-moment basis. You have to have an overarching objective that enables you to control and prioritize your activities.
It’s precisely the same at the level of your personal life. Making a decisive commitment is never easy. But it begins with knowing who you are, knowing why you are here, and knowing what you are supposed to be doing.
List two or three areas of your life where you need to make a decisive commitment ahead of time. Write down Bible verses to support each area of commitment and ask someone to pray for you.
