Commitment-ophobia

I guess that is the term for it. Commitmentophobia - an irrational fear of making a commitment to something or someone. It is one of the features of our society. We do instant - be it coffee, fulfilment or happiness. If something isn't working how you want, well, you deserve to be happy so dump it goes the line.

That's why people move jobs so frequently - how rare it is to hear of someone who has been with the same company 25 years let alone a working lifetime. Ruby, golden and even silver wedding celebrations are becoming rarer and rarer as the average life of a marriage tumbles as a result of our instant society. It informs so much of our thinking from the trivial; the car is three years old I better start thinking about getting something newer, to the vital. I have to ask myself have I absorbed the commitmentophobic attitude of society? Especially when it comes to faith, discipleship and church.

Jesus makes no bones about the level of commitment that he is calling for when he calls the disciples. Mark 8:34-5 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." Now that is commitment, and the reward is not instant.

Or take Luke 9:62: Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus is calling those who follow him to do so above everything else, above career, family, and hobbies. And where does he give us to be grounded and equipped to serve him? The local church.

Am I committed to following Jesus? To discipleship? Am I committed to the local church? What is it that drives my decision making? Is it career, family or discipleship? As I've been thinking about commitment and what I am committed to, the question is will I give my life to serve Christ expressed in serving the local church, will I commit to staying long term to serve there for God's glory? Am I prepared to turn down other opportunities in order to serve Christ faithfully in one place for my one lifetime if he so calls me to?