Read: Proverbs 16:3

In 1858, a Sunday School teacher, Mr. Kimball, led a Boston shoe clerk to give his life to Jesus Christ. The clerk was Dwight L. Moody who became an evangelist.

In 1879, while Mr. Moody preached in England the heart of a pastor named F.B. Meyer was set on fire. Pastor Meyer traveled to an American college campus to preach. Under his preaching, a student by the name of Wilbur Chapman accepted Christ.

Mr. Chapman employed a former baseball player named Billy Sunday to lead an evangelistic revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. They invited Mordecai Hamm to preach. In that revival, a young man named William (Billy) Graham heard the gospel and gave his life to Christ. In retrospect, it is easy to see that through the power of the Holy Spirit, committed Bible Teachers and Preachers have a generational impact on believers.

Though both teachers and students are tempted to be diminutive disciples whose faith dissipates when the winds of adversity blow, Christ calls us to be and stay committed as dedicated and dynamic disciples. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

Because Satan’s desire is to disrupt, disconnect and discombobulate believers from Jesus, Bible Teachers and leaders need to stay committed to the call and train students how to do the same.

Commitment Levels
When we accept Christ, we voice a committed heart and soul to Him and begin a lifetime of learning how to walk the talk. As we grow in Christ and commit to pursue a life that pleases God and gives Him glory, we learn that we can trust Him with more and more of our lives. At the same time, He exposes areas of our lives that need re-commitment. The challenge is ceding our will to His will.

Teachers, leaders, prayer partners and family members should work together and help one another to be accountable to God. God calls us to remind each other to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). If no one holds us accountable, we can convince ourselves that our current level of commitment is good enough. Connect with a teacher, leader or committed believer to help raise the commitment level in our lives from toddler to maturing Believer.

Depth and breadth of commitment
The text image below of a table with two legs represents a hypothetical area of commitment in our lives such as controlling our temper. For illustration purposes, the horizontal “b’s” represent the breadth of our commitment to control our temper and the vertical “d’s” represent the depth [Lawrence D. Woolf, “It’s A Colorful Life”]. Based on this simple visual diagram of the breadth and depth of our commitment not to let our temper lead us to sin, we can tell that the breadth of our commitment is broad but it lacks depth. For instance, we may be able to resist the initial urge to get angry when provoked. However, the image shows us that if we are continually provoked our commitment may lack the depth to continue resisting the temptation to sin since our commitment is only two levels deep in most cases. It also shows that if the issue is “off the table”, we may immediately become angry.

To grow the breadth and depth of our commitment requires exercising our faith. Faith is a gift from God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). By learning to trust His will in our daily walk, our depth of faith takes root and deepens. Strive to grow commitment that is not only broad, but also deep.

Total commitment to God means that Jesus is our sole authority, our guiding light, and our unerring compass. By our sacrifice, selflessness and service we reflect Christ (Luke 9:3-24; Galatians 2:20). Our axiom is simple and concise: “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).

Many Christians ‘stall out’ in the faith when the call to total commitment is received or viewed as something too high or too hard to acquire…or they have never been taught that total commitment is Christ’s demand for all His followers.

– Chip Ingram

Questions:
1.Discover –
A. Author, Jack Hyles writes – To lose something in the will of God is to find something better. What does this statement mean to you? How would you explain it to a non-believer?

B. If your commitment level were a growth chart and an inch represented growth via your works, would your life exhibit growth past the toddler height?

2.Develop –
A. Are you satisfied with the level of commitment you have with Christ? If so, why? If not, why not?
B. Rick Warren said “Your commitments can develop you or destroy you, but either way, they will define you.” How have your commitments defined you?

3.Demonstrate –
A. Has your commitment to Christ cost you anything? If so, what? If not, why not?
B. Today Christ is not asking us to die for Him. He is simply asking us to live for Him. Are you?