Total Commitment Part One

At some point in our Christian experience, every person comes to a place where they are faced with the question of commitment. What does it mean? How much do I have to give? How will that change my life? Some people want to ignore the question of commitment but others struggle with what it means because they are afraid they cannot meet the requirements. We also want to know just exactly how far total commitment goes. By the way, do we have to be totally committed?
What we should start with is the beginning. Commitment begins with loving God. Rarely does commitment begin by being total but it will never get to that point if we don’t start by loving God first, before anything else. In the bigger scheme of things, our commitment to everything else begins by our commitment to God whether it be in our marriage, our personal walk with the Lord, our involvement in church and our involvement with those that are in church. If we are not truly committed to God first we can never be truly committed to anything or anyone else.
John the Beloved wrote. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 1John 4:16
Our goal and the longing of our heart should be to walk in everything that God says we are and can do.
It should be our desire to live in His kingdom and enjoy the abundant life of that kingdom. It should also be our desire to be representatives of that kingdom. To be committed to His kingdom and represent His kingdom we must live and walk in love towards God and our brother's and sister's in Christ, as well as those that do not know Christ and are still prisoners of Satan, sin, the flesh and the world.
When asked about which commandment was the most important one Jesus answer, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. He then followed that with, “And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe that asked the original question went on to say that doing this was more important than anything else we did. It was more important that offerings and sacrifice. Mark 12:28-33
So how are we to love God? The scriptures tell us it must be with our whole heart. The heart was used to mean the center of our emotions. It is that which controls our thoughts and feelings. It is also to be with all our soul., by the very breath we breathe, our very spirit. We are also to love Him with our whole mind and all our strength. The idea of the mind means with deep thought. The noun form of the word means the faculty by which you think, imagine or understand. The final part of loving God is with all our strength. The word used in the Greek implies ability, might or power. All of this must be with all we have in us and at our disposal.. It is our complete love and it must be an undivided love. Jesus told us that "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24. John understood this when he wrote in his first epistle, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15 We cannot serve two masters. We try but that is why we fail. When we divide our heart we find it impossible to be in the world but we find it impossible serve God the way we know we should.
Loving God first is the most important thing we can do. It must take first place. Even before our earthly loves. Some earthly loves are positive and only need to be in priority. Others are negative loves and must be replaced and removed. We must ask ourselves what really is my first love? It takes great daring but if we answer that and say “God” are we willing to ask God, “Is it true?”
We do see that the greatest joy is found in serving God with our whole heart and living for Him. Loving Him with all we have is the place we will find what we need to walk in total commitment.