Commitment (Repost)

For some reason I see several people have been re-reading my post on "Commitment" from 10 years ago.  Since it is still relevant--maybe even more so today--I thought it might be a good time to repost it.  The only change I would make is to say Country Guy and I have now been married 57 years.  We are still committed. 😀

Commitment first posted January 20, 2013

      Have you ever noticed that 'commitment' seems to be a dirty word these days?  I was thinking about the number of people who live together without getting married this morning.  Those people appear to be unwilling to make a life-long commitment and that's what marriage is supposed to be.  The Bible calls marriage a covenant.  It's to be a physical example of the spiritual truth of how Christ loves the church.  We certainly are not giving a very good impression of that are we?

     Have you ever studied the history of blood covenants?  In ancient days, animals were cut in two and each half laid opposite the other on a slight incline, so that the blood ran together in a little stream.  Two parties made a deal and then walked between these animals in the blood path to say "let this (that has been done to these animals) be done to me if I do not hold up my end of the bargain".   That is serious commitment, don't you think?

     Country Guy and I will have been married 47 years in April.  That sounds like an amazing length of time to me considering that when I think about how old I feel before I remember how old I am, I think of myself as about 45!  :o)  We believed when we got married that we were making a covenant for the rest of our lives.  It has not always been easy--of course, if Country Guy would just shape up, it would be easier--Just joking! 

     Since it was a serious commitment, one we didn't enter into lightly, we had no choice but to stick together and work things out.   We believe that we were to honor the commitment we spoke in the words "for better, for worse, in sickness & health, till death do us part."  Just repeating those words give an indication that all things won't be rosy.  There is a warning inherent in them.  It is the commitment for life that gets us through those times we would like to avoid and makes us stronger in the process.

     It seems to me we have become a nation of wimps because we've forgotten our covenants, or broken them when times got tough, or never made them to start with.  We've chosen to do what feels good to avoid the trials that bring growth. 

    I once read a book by Gary Thomas entitled, Sacred Marriage.  In it, his premise was that God didn't create marriage to make us happy, He created marriage to make us holy.  In the covenant of marriage we are given a perfect opportunity to learn to prefer others, die to self, love unconditionally, and to practice all those other commandments Jesus gave us.  If we are committed for life we might as well get to learning how to do those things because the problems are not going to go away!

     I believe that's what we're missing today.  We all want to be happy, but the Bible says our goal is to be holy.  Let's think about what our lack of commitment says to those who don't read the Bible.   In fact, I believe if we are serious about this Christian life, we need to look at our entire lives to see if they are true representations of what Jesus did for us, and if not, to ask Him to help us become a true disciple--doing what He did, living as He lived.  How much that surely would please Him!