By David ReayThursday 29 Jul 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (NLT)
Most of us struggle with commitment to Jesus. We profess a desire or wish to be committed but we are pushed and pulled in all sorts of different directions. Our commitment fluctuates according to mood or circumstances.
While we ought not be complacent about this, we need to remember a couple of things. First, Jesus understands our weakened humanity. He does not despise us or give up on us. Our failure to keep our grand promises of total commitment does not surprise him. He is not coming at us with a baseball bat to wreak vengeance on us.
Second, our commitment to him is secondary to his commitment to us. As this passage reminds us, Jesus committed himself in love for us before we had any remote idea of what it meant to be committed to him. Any commitment we make to him is our weak and imperfect response to his strong and perfect commitment to us. Or as it is put elsewhere, we love because he first loved us.
It is good that we seek to deepen our commitment to Jesus. But never think this is the primary reality. The first, bedrock reality is that he is already unfailingly committed to us.
It is good that we seek to deepen our commitment to Jesus. But never think this is the primary reality. The first, bedrock reality is that he is already unfailingly committed to us.
Blessings
David