Not Ashamed

 2 Tim 1:12
Nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Paul, knowing that his time on earth would be coming to an end, admonished believers to hold fast to their faith. Stand up and not be ashamed of what they believe to be God’s truth and salvation to man. Times have changed, but the message is still the same. Jesus came to save sinners. All of humanity is lost in sin, born with the Sin nature, in need of forgiveness. I had a friend who believed that men are basically good and just needed to be trained and surrounded by a good environment. This thinking is contrary to the teaching of the Bible. Paul writes in the book of Romans that ALL are born sinners and must come to God for salvation. This is the message given to us by Jesus. We need not be ashamed, for the answer is found in Christ. Accepting Jesus as our savior means that we have confessed our sins, turned away in repentance. He is then faithful to save us from being lost for eternity. This truth is sealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. As we commit our hearts to Christ, take up our cross and follow Him, He has promised to keep us by His grace and to hold steadfast the commitment we made the day we gave our heart to Him.

Commit Our Way

 Psalm 37:5
Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

When we commit, we give it our all. Keeping commitments takes a willingness to forsake other things that would keep us from fulfilling our responsibility to our commitment. When we commit our way to the Lord, we take our hands off what we want to do and take up God’s way. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Committing to the way of the cross means that life will not always go the way we like, and that sacrifice will more than likely be required from us. Trusting in the Lord as we commit our ways to him will bring to pass the true desires of our heart. He will act on our behalf to accomplish His will. Our ways are now His ways and where and how He leads us is in His control. Commitment is a decision we make, and daily we must keep this commitment on the altar as a living sacrifice. We are no longer our own, we are bought with a price and we now belong to God and trust Him to lead us all the way, in the pathway He has chosen for us.

Sins Not

 1 John 3:6

Whosoever abides in him sins not: whosoever sins hath not seen him, neither known him.

This is a Bible standard that many people have problems with. How is it possible for us humans to live everyday without committing sin. We were born sinners and it appears to be a part of our nature. John must have been living in a different culture where it was more conducive to live a holy life. There is no doubt that our nature is deprived and humanity has been scarred by the fall of Adam and Eve. ( Genesis 3). It is not possible for us to live a life without sinning. All have sinned, and come short of God’s expectations. But God, through Christ the spotless lamb of God, the sinless God-Man came to us to give His life so that this sin nature could be removed. It does not make us impermeable to sin, because we still have a free will, but it provides us access to God. We were alienated from God and now abide in Christ, the sinless one. As long as we remain in Him, He provides the grace and power to overcome sin. We no longer are transgressors of the law, but we are made a new vessel of honor. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit, through sanctification that we live each day without committing willful transgression. We are still human and prone to error in the human, but our hearts can be made perfect through the blood of Christ, purifying our hearts by faith.

Commit Thy Works

Proverbs: 16:3 Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Commitment is hard to find in the day we live. People are afraid to commit because they fear that such a commitment will interfere with what they want to do. Committing our works to the Lord means that there’s things in our lives that we will probably have to put aside. Any commitment demands that we give time. Committing to spend time alone with God, committing to attend the house of God, committing to do acts of kindness, committing to love as God would have us to love. Commitment demands our full attention. Commit to seek first the kingdom of God with all of your heart. Commit your way to God, and He will give you the desires of your heart, He will establish your thoughts to be His thoughts. “Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might”.

Give All To Jesus

Luke 23:46 46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: 

Resigned to the will of God. I give it up and place my life into your hand. Jesus, the God-man gave up His earthly life, made himself willing to be the supreme sacrifice for sin. There on the cross, He speaks some of His final words, “Father, I offer up my life” A very intimate prayer that implies a close relationship with God the Father. We must come to a place in our lives where we come to the end of ourselves and submit everything to God. In His love and mercy, He forgives us of our unrighteousness and makes our heart clean from those sins we have committed, but now entreats us to give it all up. Our desires and wants, all that we hold dear to our hearts. Into His hand we commit “self” to let God do what He desires. “Commit thy way unto the Lord, and He will direct thy path”  

Man's Understanding

Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding…In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

The human mind is an amazing things. Its nature is to figure things out. We teach in our schools to problem solve. How to fix things that are broken, how to come up with solutions that will save us from disaster. God created us with a brain to think and find ways to make life less stressful. But a mind that is not subject to the will of God is influence by the carnal nature of man and the thinking of this world. A mind that leaves God out of the equation becomes humanistic and self reliance. Universities across our land are filled with this mind set. The philosophy that man does not need God to direct their ways is taught in the lecture halls and classroom everywhere. From the lips of the wisest man that lived at his time, gave this warning,  “Don’t put your trust in man’s understanding, put your trust in God, acknowledge His ways and He is able to direct your life”. He who knows our uprising and down sitting is able to guide and direct our life in a way that will be best. God does help them that are willing to submit to His will with all their heart. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”