Thoughts on commitment

This Sunday is my 29^th wedding anniversary. Holy crap!

Looking at my life with miss Sheri, time seems short. Not like its running out, but, it feels like a short time. Kids are grown, grandkids are growing, and my commitment to her is stronger than ever. When my wife hurts, i want to take that away, or deal with the person that is causing the pain. More times than not, it has been me. But make no mistake, I will protect my wife. 

I’ve heard people say they were committed to their marriage. Not me. I’m committed to miss Sheri. There’s a difference. It’s personal. She matters.

I’ve been checking into some different thoughts and ideals concerning faith lately. What I’m finding is kinda troubling. A lot of stuff I see and read seems to be more about theory. Theory has no face, no personality, no face, nothing to make it personal.

Picking and choosing what part of life to allow Jesus to become personally involved and calling it commitment kinda goes against our being instructed to love him with all we are. But loving him means we must acknowledge he  has a personality, with emotion, with attitude, with determination, and expectation.

Whether we give credence to the commitment Jesus has to his father, or whether we deny the hard sayings found in scripture, really doesn’t change the fact. Jesus has expectations from his children. The biggest of which is not to theologically determine what we obey or not, or decide based on personal agendas what is culturally acceptable. Clearly love matters. Therefore people matter. Justification of biblical truths, or lack thereof, that fail to emerge from the shadow of church fathers and  biblical tradition just so we can have a cool theory amounts to crap.

Certain trends emerge from time to time. Seems the big trend now is to scream love toward the fringe folks and gay community, but call down hell fire on those who would believe differently. The commitment we are expected to give to Christ has no caution tape placed around it. We don’t get love, and determine who not to love.

We still, after all these years, after all the death in the name of commitment, fail to understand the diversity that is available to the church. So, we call unto ourselves those like us, those who would think like us, act like us, enjoy the same freedoms as us. All the while casting knocking over the delicate things in the room with the log that protrudes from our eye.

Christ call us to his life, not our life with a Jesus twist. We are exchanging our life for his, his ways, his loves, his passions, his purpose. When we make this choice, or when we are chosen, we don’t pick and choose like we try to pick and choose which “fruit of the Spirit” we display. They all come as a package. Doesn’t matter if you pray for patience or not, you need it, you are expected to show it.

It’s his life, not yours. You have been bought with a price. As you sit, grab your knee. Feel how it is bent. Remember that feeling. You will bow before Jesus one day. Whether you like it really doesn’t matter. Whether it goes against your ideals of cultural relevance or not really doesn’t matter. It will happen.

After 29 years with my wife, some days can be down right messy. She looks at me some days and could really hurt me. Some days, she doesn’t want to be around me. But our relationship goes beyond temporary emotion of frustration and anger. Our love runs deep. I will do anything to protect her, make her safe, make her feel loved, hug her when she is hurting. Its during the tough times that growth takes place.

Don’t be so quick hurry through a trial or lose the pain of life. Allow Jesus to show his commitment to you. In turn, show your commitment to him by hanging tough. Allow him to show his love to you through people. In turn, be used by him to show love and mercy.

It’s expected.