Day 12: The Challenge of Commitment

Introduction: Subscription vs. Commitment

Think about all the things you “subscribe” to in your life. Netflix, maybe a magazine, that gym membership you swore you’d use this year. A subscription is easy. You pay your fee, you get the benefits, and the moment it gets too expensive, or too boring, or you just don’t feel like it anymore—what do you do? You click a button. Cancel Subscription. No-fault, no-mess, no-consequences. It’s a low-risk, low-investment relationship.

Now let me ask you a question this morning, and I want you to be brutally honest with yourself. Is your relationship with the church—with the Body of Christ—a subscription, or a commitment? When things get difficult, when someone offends you, when you’re asked to serve in a way that feels inconvenient… is your first instinct to look for the “cancel” button?

Scripture: Ruth 1:16-17 (ESV) – “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.’”

Devotional

God did NOT call us to a casual Christian subscription service! He called us to an all-in, deep, covenant relationship with Him and with each other. He called us to a “where you go, I will go” kind of love. That is an extreme statement! That is a life without limits. It’s a life that says, “I’m not here for the benefits; I am here for the family, for better or for worse.”

This is one of the biggest challenges we face in community. Commitment is costly. It means showing up when you don’t feel like it. It means forgiving when every part of you wants to hold a grudge. It means serving when you’re tired. It means staying and working through messy situations instead of running for the door. The world screams at us to protect ourselves, to keep our options open, to never get tied down. The world hates the very idea of this kind of commitment.

And if we’re honest, we’ll admit it: a commitment like Ruth’s sounds IMPOSSIBLE. Who can live like this?

And that’s the point! You can’t. I can’t. Not on our own. But God who began a good work in you, He can. Our commitment to each other is only possible because of HIS unshakable commitment to us. Jesus didn’t just “subscribe” to humanity for a little while. He humbled himself, took the form of a servant, and committed to the point of death—even death on a cross. He didn’t bail when it got hard. He didn’t “cancel” when we betrayed Him. His commitment to us is the fuel for our commitment to one another.

So let me ask you again. Are you just a subscriber, or are you ready to commit? Are you ready to live extreme for God in this community? Because that is where the victory is found.

Additional Scripture for Meditation

Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV): “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
1 John 3:16 (ESV): “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
Galatians 6:2 (ESV): “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Reflection

Gut Check: Look at your life over the last few months. Does your pattern of attendance, service, and engagement look more like a casual subscription or a deep commitment? Be honest with yourself.
When was the last time your commitment to your church community was genuinely tested? What was the situation, and how did you respond?
What is one specific fear or obstacle that holds you back from a deeper, “where you go, I will go” level of commitment to your church family?

Practical Application

Show Up: This week, commit to showing up to something you might normally skip. A prayer meeting, a small group, a service opportunity. Don’t just attend; engage.
Find the Unseen Job: Find one “unseen” need in the church—stacking chairs, cleaning a room, writing an encouragement note—and do it without needing any recognition. This is an act of quiet commitment.
Make a Vow: In your prayer time this week, verbally recommit yourself to your local church. Tell God, “I am committed to these people, Your people. Help me to love them like You do.”

Prayer

Lord, forgive us. Forgive us for treating Your Church like a service we can cancel. Forgive us for our lack of commitment, for seeking comfort over covenant. We confess that on our own, this level of commitment is impossible. But we believe that You are the one who began a good work in us and You will see it to completion. So today, we recommit ourselves to You and to this spiritual family. Give us an extreme, “where you go, I will go” love for one another. Make us a community that stays, that serves, that forgives, and that fiercely loves, all because You first did it for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.