Involved or committed?

The next time you sit down to a nice country breakfast, consider the eggs and sausage or bacon on your plate. I recall hearing a story about a chicken and a pig walking down a road and seeing a poor family. The chicken says to the pig, “Hey pig, we ought to help that family by giving them a nice sausage and egg breakfast.” The pig replied, “Chicken, that only involves a little contribution from you, but from me it requires a total commitment.”

Ask yourself, “Am I involved or committed?” In the above fable, the chicken wants to be involved, the pig has to be committed. What does Christ want from us? In being involved and donating a few eggs to the breakfast, the hen sits and clucks. The pig gives his life. There is no shortage of people who want to be involved. There is always a shortage of those who are committed. The abundance of those who are involved is evidenced by the abundance of those who “sit and cluck.” The committed don't have time to talk about what they are going to do or have done (25 years ago???). They are too busy doing the work.

What does Jesus ask of us? Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24) To deny self is not an exercise in will power or self discipline, it is to die to self. It is to look in the mirror and see only Christ living in us. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). This is what it means to deny self, take up the cross daily and follow Christ.

Many of us have “I” trouble. “I did that before and nobody said thank you or showed appreciation, so someone else can do it.” “I am too busy.” “I've already put in my time in the church, let some of the younger people do it.” “I'm busy with my career. Let some of the older retired folks do it.” My dad used to say an excuse is the skin of a truth stuffed with a lie. All of these excuses are basically ways of saying “I just don't want to. I'm too busy doing what I want to do. I don't come to church to be fanatically committed. I come to play church and have some religious involvement.”

You can usually tell who is the real deal and who is the phony. The guy who brags about being tough, usually is the first to get laid out in a real scuffle. The confident and seasoned warrior doesn't have to brag. His deeds speak for themselves. So it is in the Lord's army. The sitting cluckers who want to be “involved” usually don't show up when it's time to work and confront Satan on the battlefield. Convenient excuses (lies) are always close at hand.

What about you? Are you involved or committed?