The famous football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of commitment.” No one ever achieved greatness or success in some worthwhile endeavor without focusing on the goal and working to achieve it. The more difficult the accomplishment, the more effort and dedication is required for success. Our goal in life should be to serve our Heavenly Father faithfully, and we will never be able to even partially achieve that goal without total commitment to it.
We cannot please our God with a half-hearted effort. The standard is high, as we read in Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jesus tells us, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.” Paul explains how he sets his priorities, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” We need to commit ourselves as single-mindedly as Paul did.
We are living in times when fewer people are willing to commit themselves to much of anything. In North America, many spend countless hours distracting themselves by listening to music, following Twitter and texting on social media, playing electronic games, as well as watching TV and keeping up with the local sports teams. They have a job but are not particularly committed to it. Many do not marry due to a lack of commitment. Folks seem to have lost the sense of where they are going in life and drift along just doing whatever comes along. They aren’t setting goals or planning their future, because, as Lewis Carroll once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” A Chinese proverb says that water will flow wherever it is diverted; that is the problem with those just going along with the flow because they can be easily influenced in any direction, at times towards unprofitable or unsavory activities.
We need to be different. We must not let the unfocused attitude of those around us influence us. These people will be failures in life, even by worldly standards. They are not looking to do anything worthwhile and have a hard time handling life’s setbacks. In God’s eyes, they are like grass, as the prophet Isaiah explains, “All human beings are like grass; they last no longer than wild flowers. Grass withers and flowers fade when the LORD sends the wind blowing over them. People are no more enduring than grass.” What really matters? Isaiah makes it clear: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
We need to follow the advice of the apostle Paul, who said, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Solomon tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding.” If we don’t want to be like grass, but instead would like to be given immortality in the Kingdom of God, we must, as David says, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” We need to read our Bible to find out what God wants, because, as Paul tells us, “The Holy Scriptures … are able to give you the wisdom you need for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Would you like to be immortal and live forever in a paradise that God has designed to fix the problems of our world — no more pain or suffering or death, instead, a life of peace and beauty and contentment? Almost everyone answers, Yes! Yet, as Vince Lombardi predicts, most people will not be there because while they may desire to be there, they lack commitment. Total commitment to serving Him is what God wants. Nothing less is good enough. We must truly seek first the kingdom of God by committing our life to serving our God.
God loves us and loves our world. As John tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” How thankful we are that we have such a loving and merciful God who wants us to have eternal life. The way is open but we must respond. Belief in God is essential. The writer to the Hebrews explains that we must believe that God exists, and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him.
May we commit ourselves to diligently seeking Him by reading His word and obeying His commandments, so that when our Lord Jesus returns we may hear those welcome words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One