Involved or Committed?
Years ago I heard a speaker use a bit of a joke to describe the difference between being involved and being committed. He said something along the lines of, "Think about the breakfast you might have had this morning. (pause) Image a big breakfast with everything. (pause) Think about your eggs and your bacon. (big pause) You see where I'm going with this? Now the chicken was very involved in getting the eggs there. VERY involved. Those eggs wouldn't be there without the chicken. (big pause) But the pig. OH, the pig. The pig went WAY past just getting involved. That pig was COMMITTED to your bacon. That pig GAVE IT'S LIFE for your breakfast. That's the difference between getting INVOLVED and getting COMMITTED."
When you get down to the absolute core of anything we may hope to do or accomplish, all we really have to give is time. We can do may different things with our time. We can give it to classes, teams, work, etc. There are many different things we may get back from doing this: grades, performance, money, etc. Lots of "stuff." In some cases we may think of it as giving our time to teachers, coaches, or bosses. That puts it more in the context of a relationship. Makes it a bit more personal.
Now think about it even more in terms of relationships; when you give your time to family and friends. What we put into it changes quite a bit. What we get back changes. It's less about the stuff we get (at least it should be) and more about what the relationship becomes. We can understand a huge difference between relationships we are involved in and relationships we are committed to.
We're all just human and there is only so much time. But each one of us gets 24 hours each day (except for the day we're born and the day we die, but really that's just 2 short days in our entire lives). So if we're constantly tired and we're constantly running from one thing to another and we're constantly falling short in the relationships that we say are important - what can we do to make things better?
All we can do is choose. Choose how we spend our time and choose who we spend it with. I think it is as simple as choosing people or stuff. The two biggest things we spend time on typically is school or work. But in our efforts at school and work, are we investing in building relationships or the ability to get stuff? I have heard very few people who look back and wish they gained more stuff over their lives, but I know MANY people who wish they had spent more time in their relationships. We are about to begin a church-wide worship emphasis called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity that will help us address this issue of how our choices affect our lives and relationships.
God demands commitment, not just involvement. Jesus didn't just get involved in our salvation, he committed his life to it. We can look at all of scripture as describing how our lives go poorly when we put "stuff" first and how our lives, and the lives of others, are dramatically changed for the better when we commit to the life God has planned for us. Make your choices. No one else can do it for you.
Be Blessed!
Michael
When you get down to the absolute core of anything we may hope to do or accomplish, all we really have to give is time. We can do may different things with our time. We can give it to classes, teams, work, etc. There are many different things we may get back from doing this: grades, performance, money, etc. Lots of "stuff." In some cases we may think of it as giving our time to teachers, coaches, or bosses. That puts it more in the context of a relationship. Makes it a bit more personal.
Now think about it even more in terms of relationships; when you give your time to family and friends. What we put into it changes quite a bit. What we get back changes. It's less about the stuff we get (at least it should be) and more about what the relationship becomes. We can understand a huge difference between relationships we are involved in and relationships we are committed to.
We're all just human and there is only so much time. But each one of us gets 24 hours each day (except for the day we're born and the day we die, but really that's just 2 short days in our entire lives). So if we're constantly tired and we're constantly running from one thing to another and we're constantly falling short in the relationships that we say are important - what can we do to make things better?
All we can do is choose. Choose how we spend our time and choose who we spend it with. I think it is as simple as choosing people or stuff. The two biggest things we spend time on typically is school or work. But in our efforts at school and work, are we investing in building relationships or the ability to get stuff? I have heard very few people who look back and wish they gained more stuff over their lives, but I know MANY people who wish they had spent more time in their relationships. We are about to begin a church-wide worship emphasis called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity that will help us address this issue of how our choices affect our lives and relationships.
God demands commitment, not just involvement. Jesus didn't just get involved in our salvation, he committed his life to it. We can look at all of scripture as describing how our lives go poorly when we put "stuff" first and how our lives, and the lives of others, are dramatically changed for the better when we commit to the life God has planned for us. Make your choices. No one else can do it for you.
Be Blessed!
Michael
posted by McHonza at 9:26 AM
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