Passion with Commitment (To be a Hearer and Doer of the Word)

I have a burning desire within to grab the heel of the woman God has destined for me to be. But to have such passion without commitment is futile. There is a grueling battle between the flesh and the spirit that takes place everyday. He who endures receives the privilege of laying hold of the man/woman imbued with the fragrance of Christ, mirroring His image and walking in His likeness. But to endure takes commitment and one can't have passion (for anything or anyone) without it. These are words I read recently when scrolling through my Facebook's newsfeed and since then they have stuck like peanut butter to the roof of my mouth. Now, if I could just wash it down with a tall glass of milk! For these words to have any effect, they mustn't be retained in the mind, but digested in the heart. This is where our thoughts shape our behavior. As it states in scripture, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45) and so do our actions. They reflect the whispers echoed within the four walls of our home where Christ resides (in the heart). We can think of our actions like children. When sent out into the world, they will portray in public that which they observe in private. We are as children in God's eyes and in the privacy of our home (the heart) God speaks and teaches us in a still, small voice that can only be heard when we are still and small before Him. Committing to a lifestyle of prayer and study of the bible, "closet time" with Christ, is indicative of our passion for Him and vital to our walk.

Today, as I write from my heart, you are getting a glimpse of what's stirring inside the walls of my home. There is a restlessness that I believe is orchestrated by the hand of my Father. He who knows me best knows what's best for me and in truth the complacency I've fallen subject to recently is far from the abundant life Jesus Christ calls us to. The Spirit is groaning within as I repeatedly fall short of mastering the same life lessons I have come up against throughout my adult years. It is the issues that the enemy has dug roots so deep into the hardened soil of the heart that manifest often and in the most peculiar ways.

The dirt of my past I've swept and kept under stones decorating the landscape of my heart has begun to pollute the soil. When we endure with Christ, however, we find that He leaves no stone left unturned. Before Christ, I developed a calloused heart, self-imposed as a means of protection of myself against the world, a guarding of my heart from feeling too hard, loving too hard, a fool proof avoidance strategy of being hurt too hard. But, I've learned it is God who guards our hearts. Any attempts to do this in our own strength results in a makeshift cast iron replica of a heart that goes through the motions of life without experiencing its purposeful design--to pump the oxygen-enriched blood of the Lamb through these spiritual veins, to beat at a tempo that God orchestrates in perfect time, to live out the beautiful melody that harmoniously intertwines with His.

If we have any shot of living out this abundant life that is promised to us in Christ, we must allow Him to soften the soil to get to the roots that the enemy has buried deep within. This is not a quick and painless process, however, when it's on territory that the enemy has maintained dominion over for a long time. For he is not relinquishing this territory without a fight. But my passion for Christ and determination to lay hold of the sanctified woman Christ sees in me is beckoning me to commit and allow Him to work out that which He is working in me. We can either bow down to the enemy in complacency or make a choice to hold tight to the promise of a future life that does not give way easily to sin. We may suffer for a moment but "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God" (1 Peter 4:1-2). I look forward to the end result that after "[I] have suffered a while, [Christ Jesus will] perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle [me]" (1 Peter 5:10) like the dust that settles after a storm. We may be stirred up, but in Christ we are never displaced. We can always return to home base, square up with God, and discover the purpose behind the pain--whatever He is trying to uproot from our hearts.

I am beginning to understand that the pollution in the soil of my heart underlying the surface level manifestation of anxiety is letting go and that includes control over my life as well as anything or anyone I have looked to to define it. "One must lose his life for Christ's sake in order to find it". These are words paraphrased from Christ's lips spoken several times throughout the scriptures. Here we see a list of different ways God states this vital point:

Matthew 10:39 – Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 16:24-26 - Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Mark 8:35 – For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Luke 9:24 – For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
Luke 17:33 – Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
John 12:25 – The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

This is undoubtedly an important lesson as it is reinforced so many times by Jesus Christ Himself in the four gospels. You might think that this lesson would stick like post-it notes on the bare walls of this wicked heart as many times as I've read it, heard it, and reminded myself of it. Yet, I still struggle with it. And I have found that just as Jesus Christ was so gracious to reiterate such an important point in scripture as many times as He did, He is also gracious to allow me to go through life's experiences--various scenarios that differ in nature but point me to the same lesson: "Let go"!

As a result of not doing so, I presently find myself enduring a spiritual stomachache. The first signs and/or symptoms are queasiness and restlessness of spirit as the body attempts to reject the foreign ingredient that is making it sick. The physical manifestations of spiritual unrest could be anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, etc. The culprit of all this is the Spirit's alert of a foreigner (the enemy) inhabiting Christ's territory--our heart. However, the good Lord who has started a good work in us is faithful to complete it (ref Philippians 1:6), meaning He will not leave us in our present state. The spiritual unrest we face could be a result of the war going on inside as Christ fights to regain all of the territory of our hearts, not just what we are willing to give Him. Whatever does not coexist harmoniously with His kingdom within must be rejected and cast out. And the process is often a painful one. Think of a war between two nations over territory they both desire. There is a fight to the death. It is bloody and vile. And so it is within. The Spirit groans to be made whole and fully restored back to its rightful owner. But the means by which this occurs involves a tearing away of the flesh, death to self. He who is committed and endures, exercising one of the fruits of the Spirit, "longsuffering", will vomit up and out of his life all that has made him sick. Think of that instant relief you get once the foreign substance is out of your system.

Commitment sees us beyond temporary relief, however. It drives us to the door of deliverance. He who is committed is "he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25). This man measures himself up against the holy standard of the word and ponders his spiritual state as well as the path of his feet. Thereafter, he commits a firm grip of his hand to the plow for what he has heard becomes his life's work. He who is passionate about his Maker is eagerly committed to the work therein for he has made up his mind to follow Christ, a deliberate decision made after counting the cost.

But, he who is foolish will hear the word, be convicted of it, and may also even repent, but at some point along the journey, lose focus, stray from the path of righteousness, and return to his own vomit. Proverbs 26:11 states, "As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly". This man may have found the road too narrow or the cost too high to follow Christ. He is the man who "observing his natural face in a mirror, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was" (James 1:23-24). This is the man who has seen the face of Christ when looking into the scriptures but doesn't realize the potential God sees in him. He therefore closes the book and walks away unchanged. That relief or sense of peace we receive when looking into the perfect law of liberty is just temporary in this instance. We are prone to stray even returning to our own vomit if we do not "look into the perfect law of liberty" (searching for spiritual application) and "continue in it" (committing to live out that which we have heard). Passion with commitment endures, no matter the grief or cost involved, and sees us to full deliverance.

I am counted as the foolish man every time I repeat my folly. And this is not coming from a place of condemnation but conviction. There is a difference. Understanding where I fall short should drive me to my knees for repentance and thereafter fuel a closer walk with my Creator. Condemnation, on the other hand, causes me to run and hide, distancing myself from Him. Understanding that God is a loving Father, who sits by us when we are ill and sees to it that we are made well, helps us to endure. Christ is the perfect example of passion with commitment. He never forsakes us. He loves us beyond our failures. And He is committed to completing the good work He has begun in us. Now may we, if found in spiritual unrest, bring it before the Lord and ask for strength to endure the battle between the spirit and flesh. Trust that for the rest of our lives on this side of eternity, God is working to uproot the enemy from His territory--our hearts. We must work alongside of Him in this process, however. Fighting against Him by holding on tight to this life only causes further contention within. We are on the winning team. Let us allow Christ to lead us to victory and lay hold of the person He has intended for us to be.