Commitment

According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 'commitment is defined as the state of being willing to give a lot of time, work, energy etc to some thing. Here commitment goes with mission, objective, goal, vision and consists mobilization of resources of various kinds to its achievements. The resources could be material such as money, labour and non-material such as time, knowledge, skill and willingness.

In the world of accelerated Globalization, there is a saying; 'think globally and act locally' which shows the need to think in the sense of world wide and the need to act in a specific place. Actualizing thoughts and aspirations need greater mobilization of resources which inturn seeks for greater commitment.

For Christians Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior is a good example to understand what commitment shall mean. In the Gospel of John it is written that "for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son . . . " /John 3:16 /. The aim or mission of the Son of God was salivating the world. He fulfilled this objective by becoming mankind. It is a great humility for a creator to take flesh of his creature i.e. Adam (man). He did all the things that human beings/men can do except sin /Heb 4-15/. He received all the passions for our trespasses (wrong doings). St. Peter in line of this says ". . . Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps /1Peter 2 ¸ 21/

To make things harder we often perceive some things to be more fulfilling to us than they actually might be and so are confused as to what to commit to. But many people agree on that commitment is at the very heart of what it is to be a real man/ woman. It is to see something through not half way – all the way. The Lord and savior Jesus Christ was the best example – real savior who gave up every thing for love till the end. We can't be this perfect but we have a model.

Learning from their master, the apostles, took the mission given to them and committed themselves to the end of their life. The missions given to them were preaching, baptizing and making disciples and organizing the church. /matthew 28 ¸ 19-20/. As a result of unimaginable commitment that they showed to their mission, they have received heavenly glory.

When we think and talk about the commitment that Christians should show we have to see it from two perspectives.

1. The vertical relationship they have with God

2. The horizontal relationship they have with their fellows

1. Commitment to God

This starts with the trust we have to God. In this ever fluctuating external world believing God is not easy. Believing God and trusting Him, praising him consistently in times of joy and sorrow, at good and bad times, etc needs a greater commitment on the side of the beliver. The life of the holy fathers like Abrham is glaring instance.

But the question is do we really believe in God? We are expected to show greater commitment to love Him by keeping His words, commandments etc /John 14 ¸ 15/. We have to show commitment by approaching Him and testing Him /Ps.33 ¸ 8/. When we say approaching Him, it is through keeping His words, regretting for our sins, showing symphaty and empathy to the poor, praying and fasting, begging and bowing which all need greater commitment. But without His help we cannot show true commitment. Commitment without God is dead /Jh.15 ¸ 5, Ps.126(127) ¸ 1/.

2. Commitment to our neighbors

Neighbor in this context shall mean any generation of mankind. This starts with a pity or sympathy we show to all mankind whether we have blood, marital or any other kind of affiliation or not. They could be our parents, siblings, other family members or relatives. They could be our clients at work places or colleagues or friends. Here we have the best example that the Lord Jesus told us to follow his model. The good Samaritan showed pity and sympathy to the man who was attacked by robbers and did all the good things for the well-being of the man. He showed his commitment for the victim who was overlooked by the levlits and clergy. This story teaches us the need for strong commitment to help others. As our Lord Jesus Christ told us we are expected to do so /Luke 10 ¸ 29-37/

There are lots of services and activities waiting for our greater commitment both at work places or at any level of our social life be it at the family or community level. So we need to first give greater value to help people and exert greater effort to its achievement. This will be materialized when we give attention for the matter. Allocating time and using it properly has a paramount importance to show commitment. Mary, sister of Martha, was congratulated for she showed commitment to listening to the Lord of God. This happened due to her proper time management. She had finished her job /duty/ earlier before the Lord came and prepared herself to learn from His words. On the other hand, Martha was not in the same position. She couldn't finish her work earlier so she couldn't do it, rather she complained /Luke 10 ¸ 38-42/. As a result the Lord Jesus witnessed that Marry has choosen the good luck.

So let us try to value doing good for others, to start allocating time and other resources properly to the achievement of our values or missions, and finally to show our commitment through sustained efforts. May God help us to do all these for his glory and for the well-being of man kind Amen.

Zena Berhanu /Dn./