Jesus requires total commitment to the task of grounding and building in the Kingdom

 

“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom“ (Luke 9:62 “).

 

And:

 

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple“ (Luke 14:26AV)

 

Although Jesus’ demands may seem extreme at first glance, they are very reasonable expectations from us human beings because of the nature of the grounding and building process in which we will become involved as we mature. Foundation laying and construction of buildings is a tedious, involved, skill and labor-intensive business. We cannot avoid it. That is just the way it is. Would you trust a building that was erected in a flash by someone who knew nothing about construction, engineering, architecture, electrical and plumbing work or any other skills necessary to make the building safe and functional? I think not. You would run away as far as possible from this structure as you view it with suspicion. There is just no getting around it.

 

So, it is with laying foundations and building up ourselves in the Christian life. There is just no way to circumvent the time it will take, the skills involved, the work which has to be put in and the general effort that will be required to ensure that these processes are completed properly. Consequently, we will need commitment to stay the journey and implement them successfully.

 

Given that commitment is a nonnegotiable prerequisite for the maturing process, the next question is how deep in do we want to, or are willing to go?

 

When I was rededicating my life to Christ as an adult, my uncle told me that I had a choice, I could either make a superficial commitment or I could make a deep one. The superficial one, according to him, would result in living a shallow, lukewarm Christian life – bearing little fruit. The deep one would produce a more radical approach which would yield maximum results.

 

In the middle of a religious fervor, I told him that I would prefer the deep commitment. Well friends, I have paid for that decision ever since. For what I did not know at the time was that God took me at my word and would act on it time and time again.

 

I have found my Christian walk to be one of the most challenging adventures I have ever experienced. The battles began from early on. There never seemed to be a moment when I had things easy. I have had to reaffirm my commitment to God time and time again in the midst of the challenges.

 

I came to understand that because of my desire to be more than an ordinary servant, my life was being shaped, molded and fitted for my master’s use. Moreover, because I desired a place in the inner circle and deep intimacy with Christ, I would have to drink of the “cup” before my preparations are complete.

 

Remember the Precious mother who came to Jesus and asked for her sons to sit on His right and left when He ascended His throne in His Kingdom?

 

“Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.” (Mt 20:20-22 AV)

 

Instead of reproving her for being selfishly ambitious, Jesus asked of her sons if they can drink of the cup that He must drink of and be baptized with the baptism with which He would be baptized (Matt 20:22, Mark 10:38). In order for them to gain higher levels of authority or intimacy in Christ and His Kingdom, they would have to pay a price. That was a privilege, not a right.

 

The long and short of the matter is that commitment has a cost. You pay a big one if you decide to go in deep. You pay a smaller price if you make a shallow commitment.

Concomitantly, the rewards are greater for the former and lesser for the latter. From the outset, if you are a new believer, choose the kind of commitment you wish to make. God will accept only what you give to Him. He will not steal from you by taking anything that does not have your permission. However, you will only know the peripheral stuff, have a shallow experience of Christ and Christianity if you make a superficial commitment.

 

For the more mature believer, you can always rededicate yourself to know more, experience more, and bear more fruit as God prepares your heart to be good soil to receive Him and His word.

 

One other danger of the shallow commitment is that you miss out on the dynamism, the currency, the sheer magnificence of the manifestation of God in this age. Have you ever wondered why our church experience can be sometimes so unrewarding? How we long for the manifestation of Christ in our time at least in the way He was portrayed in Acts for example? Well, in the first place, Jesus promised that we would do greater works than He did (John 14:12).

This means that today we have the potential to do greater works than He did. Nowadays, as a corporate whole we are barely scratching the minimum of what He accomplished. Is this possibly because of the level of our commitment?

 

A deeper commitment will see us moving from the periphery to the center of God’s Will, to become active participants, effective agents and conduits for His desires, will and priorities to impact this earth. The shallow commitment will leave us at the margins where we miss significant moves of the Kingdom even when it comes near to us (Luke 10:1- 15). The cities which did not accept the message from Jesus’ disciples suffered tremendous loss as they failed to recognize the Kingdom of god that had come near to them.

If we are superficially committed we will miss the seasons in the Kingdom, the initiatives, and the moment when it leaps ahead of what we now have.

 

Missing the Kingdom moves and initiatives will make us ineffective and irrelevant for God’s purposes. We live out our ordinary Christian lives and go home with ordinary results.

 

The fact is, just as God does not take what we do not give to Him willingly, He does not reveal Himself to us unless we desire Him to. He will not entrust us with the big things if we take the things He has already given in our trust lightly. Read the story of the servants whom God gave more to when they multiplied what talents He gave them (Mat 25:14 – 30).

 

God is not for the casual observer to find. He demands a deep pursuit that searches Him out with earnestness, diligence, sincerity and all of our hearts (Deut. 4:29, Jer. 29:13).

 

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” (De4:29 AV).

 

And:

 

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13 AV).

 

The shallow commitment runs the risk of losing out on the fullness of the Christian experience here on earth. The deep commitment opens the avenue for a magnificent adventure in God.

 

The heart provides the emotional grounding that will make the process more enjoyable. However, because emotions are unpredictable and untrustworthy, especially if they are not governed by the Spirit and regenerated by God’s nature, it requires a conscious act of will to complement this situation. In other words, you have to make a choice to be committed even when the process begins to be less enjoyable, arduous and seemingly unrewarding. The mind is where conscious decisions are made, so that we have to “make up our minds” to stay focused on the task at hand.

 

Commitment is a kind of cultivated discipline. It becomes easier to reinforce as we go along. Let us say for instance that we commit to hold our meetings with God at a certain point in each day. At first it will be difficult or even impossible to make this date with our ever-patient companion. However, our commitment will force us to exert the effort and shift priorities to make this meeting possible. After a while, this forms a part of our routine and becomes much easier to maintain. Moreover, the Holy Spirit, used to our daily encounters, will urge us to remember the meeting if we forget it. These meetings will become a necessity and a joy after a while, so that we miss them when they do not occur. Commitment is transformed from a discipline to an act of love.

 

Note: Excerpt from “March to Maturity: Grounded and Built” by Wendy Sproul. Published in 2017. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. South Carolina, USA.