Committed When Convenient

 Committed means a dedicated loyalty to a cause. There is no person more worthy of our loyalty than Jesus. No cause greater than His cause. You would think that Christians were the most committed people on the planet. That is not always the case. 

I talked with a pastor friend of mine on the phone today. He told me that the attendance had been pretty low at the church he pastors yesterday. He coined the phrase, "Committed when convenient." He then related how one family missed the service because they went to a cousin's cousin's birthday party. If you didn't get that, it was not a close cousin but a distant cousin several times removed. Going to that birthday party warranted not being in the Lord's house that Sunday. He then told me how three adults in one family drove to town to buy new tires for their vehicle on Sunday of course. They could not do it on Saturday because their son had an all day sporting event. Committed when convenient. 

I contrast this with believers in China, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and a host of other countries. Believers there have adopted a totally different attitude about commitment. They are committed even when it is inconvenient. Their dedication to Jesus has cost some of them torture, imprisonment, and even watching family members be executed for their faith. I don't think those followers of Jesus would understand at all a distant cousin's birthday party or purchasing new tires instead of public worship. 

The reasons people miss worship gatherings these days is long. Let any family get together be scheduled on a Sunday and everyone will be quick to forsake the assembling together to be with family. Family has become an idol. People bow at the altar of family more than at God's altar. In the Edwards' home, even before I preached each Sunday, we set aside a day for worship. Our kids did not play ball on the Sabbath. We even pulled our son out of a baseball game so we could attend a revival meeting at our home church. God was the number one priority in our family. We had a commitment to be in God's house. Even when I traveled full time and preached multiple times a week, if I had a Sunday off, I still took my family to public worship. I still got up early to pray and read my Bible. I still followed through on my ministry commitments when I felt exhausted. 

People do not want to commit to service anymore. We had a list of volunteer opportunities around our church recently. We posted them on bulletin boards and in the bulletins. After nearly two months I asked the one who created the list how many had volunteered. Her answer was predictable. Not one person! People volunteer at schools, for civic organizations, on the job, for booster clubs, scouts, and for community projects. Try to get those same people to commit to a ministry and they will politely, and sometimes impolitely decline. 

It was not convenient for Jesus to leave Heaven and to have God squeeze all of His divinity into the confines of humanity. It was not convenient to set His glory aside to walk the dusty roads of Galilee to minister. It certainly was not convenient to be nailed to the cross and die a cruel death. Nothing convenient about any of that. He is the model of commitment. 

I for one cannot understand or excuse people who continually put God on the back burner for lesser things. Everything is lesser compared to Him. He is to be first in everything. The chief priority. The Most important relationship. Because of the people's commitment only when convenient attitude, most churches have totally abandoned the Sunday night worship service. More and more are moving away from any kind of midweek gathering. Prayer meetings are nearly extinct. Evangelism scarcely happens as proven by dwindling baptisms and church attendance. It is hard to find people to teach the Bible anymore. 

May God rain down the thunderstorm of His conviction until commitment returns to His people. May Christians fully commit to follow Jesus even when it is inconvenient.