'Bout That LifeSample

SAME CALLING, DIFFERENT COMMITMENT

As we continue to talk about what it looks like to live a life 'worthy of our calling,' today we'll discuss how we have the same calling as those in the Bible, but our commitment often looks different than theirs. However, as we'll see from our Bible passages today, Jeremiah actually struggled with keeping his commitment just like we often do. In fact, Jeremiah in chapter 12 is found complaining to God that He hates the calling that God has brought him to and that no one is responding positively, and that in fact, most people hate him. However, as we continue on to chapter 20, we see that Jeremiah, after keeping his commitment, is found in a different place.

He says this in chapter 20, verse 9, "But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I an weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

Jeremiah understood something at the heart of his calling: your amount of commitment is a direct correlation to the value that you place in the One who called you. Eventually we either realize how great our God is or we don't - and that will determine if we stay committed to His cause, or we fall away and continue on in our selfish ways. This is because commitment is not a promise we make to ourselves: it's an oath we take before God. God cannot simply be another interest in our lives: it must be something so much more.

Practical Steps: Don't give up your commitment to tithe, to serve, to have compassion on others, to stay faithful to your wife, and to put God first. Do these things because of your understanding and love for the One who called you!