"We Must Commit"

 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." (John 15:10 KJV)

  "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Philippians 3:12-14 NLT)

 Some of the time, we just need to stop and take a breath! Not to relax and take it easy, as if we might be working too hard or trying harder than we should; but to stop and realize that none of this temporary stuff matters, only what is done for Christ will last! 

 It never fails, but no sooner than I commit to give my all to the Lord, everything around me starts to fall apart and seems to become important; almost as if the unimportant things become a distraction to the work I feel God is leading me into. Maybe it is just the devil trying to stop me from, the old discouragement trick, making me feel as though God isn't going to care for those things, so had better take care of them myself.

 If you don't get the just of that, I think it involves the little melody I sing in my head, every time I feel my world falling apart: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, And his righteousness, And all these things shall be added unto you, Allelu, alleluia." When you see those things being stripped away, you tend to get a little bit concerned, wondering if you have made a mistake.

 That might not sound very faithful, as if there is a lack of trust in God; but on the other hand, we also need to be a good steward of all that God has entrusted us with, because I can't just walk away from the responsibilities that I have been given. 

 So, what is a person to do? Commit everything to God! It is His anyways, while do we want to make that something we are responsible for, when it is really not ours to begin with! Yes, but! I have been given another commitment, to care for my wife; how can I ignore that responsibility? 

 My mom said something, I seem to remember, as it involved walking and chewing gum at the same time; or something like that. I really never could understand what the point was, because I had no problem walking and chewing gum at the same time; as a matter of fact, only when it was at the forefront of my mind, did it ever become an issue. 

 Oh, there it is! You do things that you do, as if they are the things which you do; but you focus upon doing those things God is calling you for! Let God work out all the other stuff, because He has all the resources and all the power; we just need the commitment to keep on walking...

"Don't worry about anything: instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)