Commitment.

Could you imagine if you couldn't trust God? Well you can. So you should also be trustworthy.

Matthew 5:33 says, "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made."

Jesus is telling us to keep our word, because it's consistent with His character. 

Matthew 5:37 says, "All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

Have character and be strong. All you have to do is say yes. 

We are made in the image of God. He is faithful and never changing. When we look at ourselves we fall into one of two categories. We are either dependable people, or we aren't. One is a Blessing and the other is a Burden. We share the Gospel through our words, which is why it is so important to keep your word so that people will believe what you say is true. We must be intentional about practicing authenticity with God, with ourselves and with others.

Authenticity with God is so valuable in developing our relationship with Him. We read in the Word about those who easily give their life experiences honestly to God. They trust that He will be completely understanding of anything they bring to Him. When we give God the cookie cutter version of our lives and tell Him what we think He wants us to say to Him, our connection with Him is spiritually limp. We can grow spiritually alongside Him by allowing Him to hear the truth in our hearts. He is welcoming of all our thoughts and concerns that we want to talk to Him about, not what we bring to Him that we think is culturally appropriate. God doesn't just want to hear the watered down version of things that we have to say. He wants to hear the ugly things too. Don't just talk to Him with words we think He will be well receiving of. He is receiving and gracious of anything that we bring to Him. 

Today we have a fear of obligation, let's face it. The less we commit, the more flakey we become. My generation is so used to the term "the one," as far as a life partner goes. We are already breaking commitments with future partners when in the back of our heads, we think eventually we'll find "the one." We just need to find a Godly person and spend the rest of our lives with them. Someone we can cherish, that loves Jesus. I know it sounds simple, but in reality it should be. With patience and trust, it will be. We put too much pressure on ourselves and our future husband/wife and expect them to be the perfect one we've been waiting all our lives for. Now this is a new concept I've been slowly processing, and I kind of like it. Why should we have these huge expectations of our future spouse when we ourselves are in no way perfect? When we find that Godly person who loves Jesus, that we want to pursue and cherish, we need to make a commitment to them and forget about "the one." What if this person is "the one" and you're not fully committing yourself to them because you still believe "the one" for you is out there? 

Life gets sloppy when we can't commit. We find ourselves not keeping commitments. We say we're going to do something and we don't do it, and that makes us liars. This is inconsistent with the spirit of God. Look at yourself. What is your reputation? Dependable, or flakey? Learn how to say no (I know for some of us this is hard, but look back at Matthew 5:37 for reassurance). Re-prioritize your life. When you have made a commitment to someone, you have given them a gift of time and a gift of your presence. If we must get out of that promise, we need to learn how to ask for that commitment back from that person. 

I've come to the recent realization that it is important for us to develop relationships with other people who have room to share the good and the bad. Commit to these relationships. Value these relationships, because they don't come by often. Similar to your openness with Christ through the good and the bad, having others that you can share your inner most thoughts and ideas with is crucial. These relationships allow us to commit to each other and provide a give and take scenario that is constant in the busy lives we live. They also aid us in verbalizing the good and the bad to God, because it isn't always going to be easy, at least for me I know that is true. 

I never regret following God. It's God's commitment to us that He has saved us. Don't be a fake Christian. Be the real deal, a follower of Jesus Christ. 

How Do You Know Someone Is "The One"? || Jefferson Bethke:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERIOlDTk2M

Blessings come through commitments, 

Courtney