Joel Osteen Podcast - The Purpose of Commitment

Episode Date: March 21, 2018

What is it that you want to accomplish? Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” You can’t do it on your own, but you’re not on your own. You can commit those important things in your life to the God who is committed to you! He is saying, “Focus on your commitments and believe that I’m going to help you bring them to pass.” You have to put your plans into action if God is going to help you. It takes steps of faith on your part. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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recommitting to some of our former commitments or making new commitments. Commitments to those things that are very important to your life, things that are going to cause you to walk in a greater freedom, a greater accomplishment, greater joy, and greater victory. You see, to walk in these things, you must be committed to these things. Anything you want to to accomplish is going to take a commitment. You know, sometimes people are afraid of commitment. You know, they don't want to be obligated. They don't want to be disappointed. Sometimes we like to keep our options open. Maybe there's a plan B later on we'd rather choose. But I bet every one of us could look over our life and we could see through our life that the things that we truly committed to,

the things that we were all in on, wholehearted, those are the things we're enjoying the most right now. You know, sometimes I've made a commitment, but it's been a one foot in and one foot out. Well, I hope it happens. It's a wish anyway. That's not the way a commitment has to be approached. We have to decide commitment is something that is going to cause us to gain in the long run. See, commitment means obligation, determination, discipline. See, to make a commitment is going to cost you something. You're going to have to focus on it. You're going to have to have a plan.

You're going to have to be determined. In fact, you have to serve your commitment. You see, you have to serve your commitment for a time, and eventually that commitment will serve you. See, that commitment will benefit you eventually. And that's the importance of commitment, because commitment causes us to accomplish. And it's not always easy. If commitment was easy, everybody would be accomplishing.

Everybody would be walking in victory. Everybody would have great relationships, wonderful home life, amazing jobs. But commitment is what it's going to take. You know, I'll never forget when our son Jonathan was just a little boy. I really wanted him to play a musical instrument. And so I said, Jonathan, this is what I think you need to do. I believe it's going to be something that you'll always enjoy in your life. And so I said, you can play anything you want, you choose. And he said, I'll play the guitar. And so as we began to, you know, get the lessons prepared, and I began to talk to him about practicing. It was so interesting because there was always things that tried to interrupt this.

And I knew as a mother, this had to be a commitment if he was really going to learn how to play well. But there were friends that would come over after school about the time we were going out for the lesson. Things would come up. There was never a good time to practice because there were so many other things that were trying to interrupt the commitment. Have you ever experienced that? See, I want to tell you something about that commitment. It doesn't matter if you're little or if you're older. Things will always try to interfere with your commitments. If you commit to having a good relationship with your spouse

and you commit to keeping your mouth closed in the difficult times, I can guarantee you that they're going to say something that's going to jeopardize your commitment. You see, it's interesting because I'm sure my son thought at one point, my mom is trying to punish me. She doesn't want me to play with my friends. I'm being restrained. I'm being restricted because that's sometimes what commitment feels like. Because, see, it's hard to be committed to something when no one else is committed to it. It's hard to walk in integrity when no one else is walking in integrity.

when no one else is walking in integrity? Listen, if they can get away with it, can I get away with just a little bit of it? But you see, God is asking us to commit to him those important areas of our life. It says in Proverbs 16, commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. You see, you can't keep a commitment on your own, but you can keep a commitment to a committed God. You see, God was committed to us, even when there were many interruptions, even when we don't deserve to be committed to. God has committed to us. And he's saying, you got those important commitments in your life? Give them to me. Focus on them. Believe that I'm

going to assist you in those things. One version says it like this. It says, commit your actions to the Lord, and he will direct you. You see, commitment is not a wish. Commitment is an action. We have to put our plans into action if God is going to help us. If he is going to advance us in our commitment, we're going to have to take the step of faith. We're going to have to do our research. See, everybody wants to have a degree. Everybody wants to have a degree. Everybody wants to those initials behind their name. But it takes commitment, even when you don't feel like going to school.

Even when there's other things that are pressing, you don't want to study. It takes commitment. But it's those things in life that we're truly committed to that bring us the freedom and the joy. You see, our son Jonathan now, he could have chose not to apply himself. He could have chose not to commit.

himself? See, the truth is, we were both exhausted at first. He was tired of hearing me tell him to practice, and I was tired of tell him to practice. But once he committed himself, once he saw the rewards of the commitment, the commitment became easier. The serving the commitment eventually begin to serve him. And that's the way commitment is. Commitment feels like a restraint at first, but commitment will eventually, it will serve your cause. See, I believe that God is waiting for us to take the step. He's not going to take the step for us. You know, now my son can play the guitar.

Now he can sing with his guitar. Now he can enjoy what the commitment produced, where it may have looked like I was stealing his freedom as a mother. he now gets to walk in a greater freedom. He gets to experience something he would not have experienced if he would not have committed to that. See, I'm using this as example because there are many of you right now that are on the threshold of a new freedom,

but you've got to make a commitment. You can't put one foot in and one foot out. You've got to go all in because that's what commitment takes. Commitment's going to cost you something. It's not free. It'll bring a greater freedom, but it is an investment that will pay off in the end. If you want people to look at your word and believe you and take you at your word and know your word is bond, then you have to keep the commitments that you speak about.

You can't say something and then decide you're not going to do it. Listen, don't say anything at all. Because you know what? You can only be committed, truly committed to so many things. You can't be committed to everyone. You can't be committed to everything. But the things that you decide are important in your life and you're going to make a commitment, you need to go all in with that commitment.

You need to give it to God. You need to recommit it daily. You need to think about the benefits of your commitment. because see, that's what's going to give you the power to continue. See, Jesus came to forgive us of our sins, but he also came to empower us with his power to keep our commitments, to keep our bond, to keep strong families. Listen, if you want good relationships, you're going to have to be good to people when they're not being good to you.

You're going to have to learn to overlook an offense. You're going to have to release bitterness. that's going to take commitment. That's going to take restraint. But on the other side of that costly commitment is an amazing blessing. You're going to get to enjoy relationships, enjoy things that you would not have enjoyed before. I was talking to a gentleman the other day and he loves his wife. He said, but truly, there are some things that really she's not that lovable. I love so many things about her, but there are those moments. He says, but you know what, I love her anyway.

And I looked at him and I said, that's right. You made a commitment to love her. And that's why you're celebrating your 25th anniversary today. Because we look at those hard things instead of the good things. He decided to look at the good things about her, the things he loved about her. Not a few of those things that were difficult. My encouragement to us today is commit to the Lord. Commit those important things to him.

Renew that commitment on a daily basis. Put actions behind that commitment so that God can release his power in your life. And I believe there's freedoms that you're going to experience that non-committed people will never experience. Amen. Amen. He's an awesome God. from New York Times best-selling author, Victoria Osteen, her brand new 30-day audio devotional. Embracing Every Day.

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