Monday Morning Devotion-March 19, 2018

Your Commitment

"…put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." 

Ephesians 4:23b

            "Nothing shapes your life more than the commitments you choose to make."

Think about that.  What are you committed to in your life?  Webster says that commitment is, among other things, "a dedication to a long-term course of action; engagement; involvement."

            Rick Warren who has sold over 20 million copies of his book "The Purpose Driven Life" says: "Your commitments can develop you or they can destroy you, but either way, they will define you…We become whatever we are committed to."

            So, how do you want to be defined?  Well, maybe you should examine your commitments.

            Psychology Today writer Philippa Perry writes that "You can look at how you commit by examining three main areas of your life: 

            1. Relationships (who you spend time with)

            2. Place (where you spend your time)

            3. Activity (what you do with your time)

            As Christians our main goal is to become more like Christ.  We know that we will never be perfect, but the more we commit to shaping our lives to follow in the footsteps of Jesus the greater our spiritual growth will be.

            Warren says that "spiritual growth is not automatic.  It takes an intentional commitment.  You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow and persist in growing."

            There are two parts to this process; God's part and our part.  Spiritual growth is a collaborative effort between the Holy Spirit and You.  God's Spirit works with us, not just in us.

            Our part is to "work out" the puzzle before us.  Here's the deal.  We already have all the pieces we need to make a proper commitment.  For example, in a physical workout we are working to develop our body, not to get a body.  We already have a body.

            When you work out a puzzle you already have all the pieces, so your task is to put them together. Through Jesus we have been given new life so now it is our responsibility to develop it.

            How do we do that?  We must change our autopilot.  Warren says, "To change your life you must change the way you think."  Maybe you are thinking, "I don't need to change the way I am.  I like me just fine."  Well congratulations Mr. or Mrs. Perfect Person.  You are only the second perfect person to walk on earth.  Point made, right?

            Say you are driving a speedboat with the autopilot set to go east.  As you travel along you decide to reverse this and go west.  So, you grab the steering wheel and physically force the boat to turn around and go west.  Not an easy thing to do.  Takes some muscle. And even when you get it turned, every time you take your hands off the steering wheel or lose your grip the boat will turn back to the east.

            There's an easier way.  Simply take it off of auto pilot and you can control the boat's direction. That's what happens when you try to change your life with willpower.  You say, "I'll force myself to eat less, exercise more, quit being disorganized, quit being late."  OK through sheer determination you change.  Congratulations!

            But, ---there's always a but isn't there?  The change is usually short term and the internal stress is tremendous because you haven't dealt with the root cause.  You haven't taken yourself off of autopilot.

            Sometimes a person is on autopilot because of "early relationships with care-givers, the environment a person grew up in and experiences they had.  They have formed a personal belief system---an internal script---that they are still operating from.  It is mostly an automatic way of being."  So here is where a closer look at a person's belief system is necessary in order to change.

            Warren says to get off the autopilot mode and make a stronger commitment we need to change the way we think.  Romans 12:2b says: "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."  That's first step in developing a strong commitment.  Change always starts in the mind.  "The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act.  As Paul pointed out in Ephesians 4:23 "there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes."

            Along with this you must develop discipline.  In his blog "How to Make Commitments You Will Actually Keep" Scott H. Young writes "Discipline requires time, effort and respect within yourself.  As you begin to successfully keep more commitments you will be more willing to keep them in the future.  Every kept promise to yourself creates more self-trust which builds the foundations of more discipline in the future."

            The key to developing self-discipline is to do as Paul writes in Philippians 2:5.  "think the same way Jesus thought."  There are two parts to this.  The first part requires putting away immature thoughts like we did as a child.   The second half is the type of mature thinking that focuses on others not yourself."

            Warren writes: "…our deeds must be consistent with our creeds, and our beliefs must be backed up with Christ-like behavior.  Christianity or a philosophy is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle. The core of that lifestyle is thinking of others instead of ourselves."

            Getting off autopilot and starting a new way of thinking is the key to those strong, solid commitments you will be making in the future.

Prayer:  Lord help us to revise our thinking and make the kind of commitments that are pleasing in your sight.  Amen!