Many in the world think of commitment as dangerous. And, for the most part, they’re not wrong. Commitment is dangerous—just ask anyone who ever shelled out cash for tattoo removal. The Scriptures actually warn against throwing promises around—even with the purest intentions—because we humans are neither omnipotent nor omniscient, and might very well realize later that a commitment we made was unnecessary, foolish, or even sinful (Proverbs 20:25; Matthew 5:33–37; James 5:12).
A rash or poorly placed commitment can indeed create a nightmare of consequences, and because they recognize that, many people are understandably terrified of commitment in general. “If I commit,” they think, “I might regret it.”
In God’s Church, we’re constantly reminded of our need to remain committed to God and His way of life. And because of the veil they’re under, many in the world find that commitment uncomfortable, to say the least. “Tying yourself down to a religion for life? You’re going to regret that.”
To them, we’re binding ourselves to a restrictive lifestyle that keeps us from variety. Because of the commitment we’ve made, we can’t try all the foods they try. We can’t see all the movies they see. We can’t do all the things they do with all the people they do them with.
And again—they’re not wrong. There’s a lot that a servant of God can’t. But what the world doesn’t see, what it’s simply not able to see, is the vast number of things we can.
We can talk daily to Someone who is genuinely and wholeheartedly listening to us. We can read His heartfelt, wise answers to the deepest questions of life. We can take a day, every single week, to cast our usual burdens completely aside. We can feel the gratitude and satisfaction that come from becoming better people with our Best Friend’s help. We can sincerely ask forgiveness and know that we’ll receive it.
We can have a wonderful relationship with our Father—no matter who our parents are. We can be confident in the guidance our Father provides to help us build healthy family relationships. We can live without puzzling over what morality is, because we have a perfect guide to teach us. We can feel the love of Someone who literally gave His firstborn for us. We can have unshakeable confidence that death is not the end, but just a pause. We can look forward to becoming, one day, far beyond human.
And that’s not even a tiny fraction of what we can because of our commitment to the One who deserves commitment more than anyone else. Commitment to the God of the Scriptures will never turn out to be a bad idea in hindsight. We’ll never find ourselves outgrowing Him, never discover fine print that He tried to hide from us, and never be burdened with the realization that it would have been better to commit to some other way of life. We’ll all make many stupid decisions as the days and years pass, but if we’re doing our best to sincerely follow Him, we will never, ever look back and say, “I really shouldn’t have tied myself down to God.” Those in the world don’t think we have the abundant life, but that’s only because they confuse “abundant” for “unhinged.”
Yes, there’s a lot a servant of God can’t do—but none of it is worth doing. If we’ve committed to Him, we’ve made the safest commitment possible, and we can rejoice in the knowledge that we’ll never regret it.