Involvement versus commitment. What’s the difference between the two?  Pretty simple, really. Think for a moment of a bacon and egg breakfast; the chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.  And we all love bacon, but nobody wants to be the pig.  (Thank you, Tim Elmore.)

Everyone likes to be involved, but nobody wants to commit. Everyone like to be a part of something as long as it doesn’t cost them anything, but once there’s a price to paid in money, sweat or time, it’s amazing how fast their interests turn elsewhere. Case in point: The followers of Jesus. Oh, not the followers of today—I’m sure they’re all completely faithful, totally committed to the cause of Christ at any cost—the followers of yesterday, the followers written about in scripture. You see, Jesus was actually a pretty popular guy. A week before his execution he arrived in Jerusalem like a victorious war hero; crowds of people were cheering and throwing down their coats and palm fronds for him as he rode into town. It was a spectacle that didn’t go unnoticed either. Everyone wanted to involved in the ministry of Jesus (Matthew 21:1-11). But a week later it was the same crowds in the same city chanting against him, sending him to the cross (Matthew 27:11-23). When the powers that be, both Roman and Jewish alike, decided it was time for Jesus to go, it turned out that all those people who were involved with him weren’t actually committed.

If we were honest with ourselves, a lot of us today would have to admit that we’re similar to those early crowds. We like our faith cheap and convenient. We go to church in order to receive, not give back. We hear about opportunities to serve in various capacities, but immediately claim to be “too busy.” We read about the needs in the bulletin for volunteers to help with this mission trip or that youth camp or VBS, and we beg off with a ready excuse. We complain about things we know how to improve, but we never step up to actually make the difference ourselves. We feel the need for leadership, but we just know in our hearts that it must be someone else’s calling… Because we like being involved, but we don’t like commitment.

READ: Luke 9:57-62

THINK: Have you felt called to do something but just don’t have the time to do it. Perhaps you’re a mile wide and an inch deep. That’s an apt description of someone who is involved in a lot, but not very committed, like a student who visits three campus ministries each week, but can’t be a leader in any… Do you need to cut something out to make room to go deeper with something else?

PRAY: Ask God to open your eyes to the opportunities around you to demonstrate a deeper level of commitment to the things that are important to Him.

ACT: Evaluate your schedule. Pick one thing you’d like to be more committed to and one thing you can cut out. It might be difficult to decide, but understanding commitment is a key component to success in life.