Title: Interest or Commitment?
There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.
- Art Turock, Getting Physical (Doubleday)
Title: Commitment Viewed Negatively
Commitment is viewed negatively because it limits our ability to feel independent and free, to experience new things, to change our minds on the spur of the moment and to focus on self-gradification rather than helping others. People willingly make commitments only when the expected outcome exceeds what they must sacrifice as a result of that commitment.
- George Barna, The Frog in the Kettle, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), 35.
Title: Livingstone on Commitment
When Dr. David Livingstone was working in Africa, a group of friends wrote him: "We would like to send other men to you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?" According to a member of his family, Dr. Livingstone sent this message in reply: "If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."
Title: Sacrifice better Bondage
The lamb
was desperate. A huge wolf was on its heels and rapidly gaining ground.
Seeing a temple nearby, the lamb made a quick decision and dashed through
a narrow opening in the wall.
The wolf,
smiling a wicked smile, said, "You might as well come out; the priest will
slay you if he catches you in there."
The lamb
thought for a moment and then replied, "I choose to stay here. It
is better to be sacrificed to God than to be devoured by you."
Satan devours
all who are in bondage to him. God liberates those in His care.
Which do you choose?
- Mark Sutton, "Sermon Illustrations" Proclaim, (January-March, 1997), 19
Title: Commitment Thourgh Difficulties
Commitment
to God often comes in difficult circumstances. When death seemed
so close to Delos Miles in a bunker in North Korea, he began to pray.
As he lay on the ground, a Chinese soldier put a rifle to his head.
Miles prayed something like this: "Lord, if you are all-powerful like I've
always heard you are, you can bring me out of here alive. If you
will save my life, I'll do anything you want me to do."
The soldier
fired. Instead of going through Delos' head, the bullet went down
across the right side of his head.
After 18
hours in that bunker pretending to be dead and 3 days and nights searching,
Delos made it back to the First Marine Division. He now serves as
Professor of Evangelism at Southeastern Bapist Theological Seminary.
- Rodney Navey, Proclaim
For complete story see Delos Miles, Introduction to Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983) 171-173
Title: The Pig and the Hen Debate
submitted by Wai-Man Mak
(The story was told by Dr. Herbert Schaefer, a Canadian missionary working in India and Hong Kong for some thirty years. He is now retired.)
One morning, a debate broke out in a farm. The debate was raised between a hen and a pig. The topic of the debate is "Involvement is equal to Commitment". The hen argued, "if someone is willing to get involved, that means he is ready to commit."
The pig said, " No, I don’t think so. Getting involved is far from ready to commit."
As they were arguing and it seems no one could totally convince the others, they heard the voice of the farmer’s wife. "Honey, what would you like for you breakfast? Ham or Egg?" The farmer replied, "I prefer ham."
Then the pig told the hen, " You see, when you laid an egg, you are involved in the breakfast. But we are committed to the breakfast when we are eaten as ham."
Are we just getting involved in the activities of the church? Or, are we ready to commit and sacrifice ourselves for the service of the Lord?
Jesus said, "For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)
Title: I Can't
My one and a half year old daghter has picked up a new phrase "I can't" which really means I won't. Often times in our lives we are called upon by the Lord to display a committment that dosn't say I can't but how can I?
I read this story in our local newpaper a few years ago. In the seaside town of Provincetown, MA, on Cape Cod a man and his wife were sitting on their porch over looking the ocean when the man noticed a disturbence in the water just a few feet from their house. At first he assumed it was a school of blues that had traveled to close to shore and were in a feeding frenzy.
But upon closer examination he noticed it was actually one large fish, a shark perhaps, since they are not uncommon in these waters. But as he stared he made out the distinct shape of a large Tuna with it's characteristic forked tail. Knowing that these fish weigh hundreds of pounds and can fetch thousands of dollars, he wondered how he might catch it. He returned to his porch and found an old rope from a lobster pot. He fashioned the rope into a lasso and set out for the water. On his second attempt he was able to throw the lasso around the forked tail of the Tuna and drag it into shore. A few phone calls later and the fish was off to market.
How diligently we sieze the opportunities that God sends our way inlarge amount will determine what we accomplish while on this earth and what praise we will recieve from His lips in heaven.
by Ben Feldott
Title: Heroism demands commitment
(1 Kings 8:54-61; Matt. 16:24-26)
Three military recruiters showed up to address high school seniors. Each recruiter--representing the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps--was to have fifteen minutes.
The Army and Navy recruiters got carried away, so when it came time for the Marine to speak, he had just two minutes. He walked up and stood utterly silent for a full sixty seconds, half of his time.
Then he said this: "I doubt whether there are two or three of you in this room who could even cut it in the Marine Corps. But I want to see those two or three immediately in the dining hall when we are dismissed." He turned smartly and sat down.
When he arrived in the dining hall, those students interested in the Marines were a mob.
The recruiter knew that commitment comes from appealing to the heroic dimension in every heart.
--W. Frank Harrington
Title: Commitment to Marriage Costs
A North Carolina jury ordered a man to pay $234,000 for stealing the love of another man's wife.
The verdict was not about money, legal experts say. Instead, it's a way for a scorned spouse to send a message that cheating isn't fair or appropriate.
In August, another North Carolina jury awarded a jilted wife $1 million. North Carolina is one of the few states with alienation-of-affection laws still on the books. Most states abolished such laws when no-fault divorce laws became popular.
Said Scott Altman, law professor at the University of Southern California, "Even though fault-based divorce is abolished, most people still regard infidelity as wrong and feel terribly hurt by it. So for someone to want a remedy when they feel so aggrieved, and for a jury to be sympathetic, doesn't strike me as shocking."
--USA Today (9/19/97)
Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Adultery/55
Marriage/1620-1621
Title: Over His Dead Body
In May All Who Come Behind Us Find Us Faithful, Robert Russell tells this story:
"In Kentucky, there is a huge rivalry in college basketball between the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky. The story is told that at one of the recent 'Dream Games' between the two schools, an elderly woman was sitting alone with an empty seat next to her. Someone approached her and said, 'Ma'am, I have rarely seen an empty seat in Rupp Arena, let alone at the Dream Game. Whose seat is this?'
"The woman responded that she and her late husband had been season ticket holders for twenty-eight years, and the seat had belonged to him. 'Well, couldn't you find a friend or relative to come to the game with you?' the observer asked.
" 'Are you kidding?' she replied. 'They're all at my husband's funeral.' "
Other Topic/Subtopic/Index:
Marriage/1620-1621
Priorities