ARE YOU COMMITTED TO GOD?
D. Elton Trueblood once said, “In our modern world, our real danger comes not from irreligion, but from mild religion.” There is a lot of truth in that statement. Yes, there are people in this world who have no real interest in God. However, what really hurts the cause of Christ today, are those who proclaim a love for Christ without any real commitment to Him.
Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33). Are you doing that? The word kingdom in that passage is basileia, referring to the royal rule, realm, and reign of God. To be committed to God is to allow Him to rule our lives, and to permit our hearts to be the realm where He reigns daily.
God has the power to control us if that is what He wants to do. After all, He is our Creator, and like the potter has power over the clay, God has power over us (Romans 9:18-20). He, however, does not want to control us. Instead, He wants us to serve Him voluntarily. That is why He created us in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:26). He wants us to demonstrate our love and reverence for Him by our willingness to put Him first in our lives, that is, by our voluntary commitment to do His will.
Our purpose in life should be to serve God. We do that by first determining in our hearts that we want to please Him above all other things in life. Jesus is our example. He always did what was pleasing to His Father (John 8:29). It was not by accident that Jesus lived such a life; it was His determined purpose. His food was to do the will of God (John 4:34). If we are to be committed to God, we, too, must have such a mindset. It is when we obey God (because of our love and respect for Him) that our lives become living sacrifices to Him, and a demonstration of a “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
Solomon is a good example of one who failed in the area of being committed to God. He allowed the world, in the form of foreign wives, to get in his way. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 I Kings 11:3), and they turned his heart away from God. He stopped putting God first like his father, David, had done. He lost His commitment to please God and started to serve other gods. What is interesting is what the Bible says made God angry.
1 Kings 11:9 (ESV)
9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
Many might think that the first thing that angered God was Solomon’s idolatry. And, to be clear, God was angry with Solomon because he turned after other gods, something He distinctly expressed in the context of 1 I Kings 11. However, God knew that idolatry was simply the outward manifestation of the real problem, that is, Solomon was no longer committed to Him.
1 Kings 11:4 (NASB)
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
Is your heart wholly devoted to God? That is what commitment to God really is, and when we are truly committed to Him, it will dictate how we live our lives every day. We have seen two examples, that of Jesus and Solomon. In whose steps will you follow?