LifeLink Devotional
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Psalm 117:1-2 Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
I heard the story of a man who went to the pastor’s office with a burning question. “Pastor, is it proper for one man to profit from another man’s mistakes?” The pastor thought for a moment, then responded, “No, a man should not profit from the mistake of another.” Wanting to be certain, the man asked, “Are you sure, pastor?” “Of course I’m sure. In fact, I’m positive,” said the pastor. “Well then,” said the man, “would you please give me back the $200 I paid you to perform my wedding ceremony!”
Commitment is contemporary culture’s casualty. Everything today is about choice. Even after a choice is made, we reserve the right to re-choose. I don’t really believe we see or understand the depth of the Devil’s deception. It seems that in every area of our lives we have declared the right to keep our options open, just in case there is greener grass across the next fence. Commitment is only valued until the next choice comes along. And when commitment is sacrificed on the altar of choice, compromise rises from the ashes as a sweet delight to our flesh but as a sickening incense before God. Inconsistency reigns in our culture in direct contradiction to the character of the Almighty.
Imagine for a moment that you have just been involved in a terrible car accident that will cause your death within the next 5 minutes. While you are still conscious you want to tell your family three things – how you feel about them, how you want to be remembered, and how they should live. Remember, you have less than five minutes to write the note. What will you say?
I don’t know what the circumstances were that motivated the writing of the 117th Psalm, but it is the shortest of all the Psalms. It’s as if God sets it apart as the condensed and complete content of His character and how we are to remember Him. He tells us how He feels about us – great is his love toward us. He tells us how we are to remember Him – the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. And He tells us how to live – Praise the LORD.
One thing stands out powerfully and clearly to me today – God made a choice to love me and He is committed to that choice.
I praise Him for His commitment of everlasting love and faithfulness. His choice is eternal. Compromise is not in His character. While life around me shouts with inconsistency, I will shout the consistency of my God. While the world around me celebrates choice, I celebrate the choice of God to love me, and I choose, once and for all, to love Him and be faithful to Him.
While the world around me becomes more and more committed to protecting choice, all the while destroying commitment, I become more and more committed to one choice – the choice of Christ – and I give up the right to ever choose again. I praise the great love of God towards me. I praise the faithfulness of the LORD which endures forever. I will shout it loudly with my life, and when appropriate I will use words.
I invite you to do the same. Commitment is not the casualty of Christianity – it is the cornerstone.
Pastor John
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