Ham and Eggs

A couple of weeks ago our church had “commitment” Sunday. We are beginning a new building campaign and on “commitment” Sunday families from all “walks of life,” walked forward with pledge cards indicating the financial commitments they are making toward the campaign. It was a very moving experience. To watch an elderly woman in a wheelchair go forward with her pledge and place it at the altar is certainly humbling and convicting. To think that she may not even be alive when the final bricks are put in place truly shows sacrificial giving. Another thing about the service stood out to me. The first family to go forward was our “first family.” Our senior pastor and his family brought their pledge forward, and in that moment he went from being the spokesperson for the project to a committed participant in it. I have heard it said that “the best leaders are what they want their organizations to become.” Too often is the case where a leader stands before us and exhorts us to live a certain way, work a certain way, be committed to a cause that they themselves aren’t even committed to. It’s the old “ham and eggs” question. The next time you sit down to eat ham and eggs, think about the chicken and the pig. The chicken was involved, the pig was committed! What are you committed to? Who are you committed to? Are we simply involved or do we have “skin in the game.” You may sit there and say, “But no one is following my example, why do I have to be committed to anything?” If any of the following apply to you, then your example does count. Are you married, a parent, an employer, an employee, breathing, alive? If any of those characteristics are true of you, then it does matter what your example is. People are watching! They are watching to see if your words match your walk. For instance, you constantly tell your kids to always tell the truth, no matter what. The phone rings, your child answers it, it’s a tele-marketer from the local Lion’s club selling light bulbs that will last for the next 100 years. What do you do? Let’s see if this is close; you tell your child the following “Tell them I am not here.” To which your child relays to the caller, “my Dad said to tell you he is not here.” Here is something to consider, when you teach your children to lie for you, you have just taught them to lie to you!

Here is a quick test; when you commit to something do you instantly look for the “out” clause? Are you like a former co-worker of mine who told me “I am with you through thick and thin. When it gets thick, I’m thinnin’ out!” The only thing easy about commitments is breaking them. Why not seek help from someone who has always kept his commitments? God’s word says the following: II Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” God isn’t looking for the “cool” or the “cash-cows,” he wants the committed.

So, the question is: will you commit to him, or are you just too chicken?