Commitment: How To Stay True To You.

I was listening to motivational speaker, Inky Johnson, give a speech and he said, “ Commitment is staying true to what you said you were going to do long after the mood that you have said it in has left.” What you need to know about Inky Johnson is that he was a phenomenal football player at the University of Tennessee. In a game against the Air Force Academy he went to make a tackle and an awkward hit left him on the brink of death. Although the doctors saved his life, the outcome was a paralyzed right arm and a shattered dream of playing professional football.

Inky went on to say that although the event drastically altered his life, he had already learned the important lesson of being committed. He says, “I’ve been committed to everything I’ve ever started in my life…I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to…I understood the process is more important than the product…I was going to fall in love with that process.”

The process will likely never be smooth 100% of the time. However, to have a mentality of commitment means that quitting is not an option and that you’re not done until the job is done. If we don’t fall in love with the process, the process will become our graveyard. In other words, we will never achieve the fulfillment of our purpose unless fulfilling that purpose is the only option on the table.

This requires a high degree of honesty. Many people lie to themselves. I’ve always said there are two people you should never lie to. One is God. He is omniscient and omnipresent so He knows you’re lying and is present when you lie. The second, is yourself. Not only because it is illogical, but also because it robs you of the ability to complete what you’ve started. Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos said, “I think that the minute that you have a backup plan, you’ve admitted that you’re not going to succeed.” When we are honest with ourselves and count the cost of committing before we commit, then we can be committed in the truest sense of the word. “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’”(Matt. 5:37). Don’t say you’re going to do something (even if it’s just to yourself) if you know you don’t have the will, capacity, or capability to do it.”

The evolution and subsequent fulfillment of your purpose on this planet may have several iterations but are you committed to the process?

COMMITMENT TO SERVING

Very simply put, you and I were born to serve our gifts to the world. Often, when I am asked to give a testimony from my life I tell people that we all need to give our testimony to others because it does you no good. You already know what you went through. It is in sharing it with others that the true power of the experience is manifested. Likewise, if you have the gift of dance, don’t let your mirror be the only one that sees you. If you’ve been given the gift to sing, don’t let your shower walls be the only audience you entertain. If you have the gift to teach, don’t let your journal be the only beneficiary of your wisdom. When you commit to serving what you’ve been blessed to have you will receive blessings you never could have sought out. “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them” (Hebrews 6:10).

COMMITMENT TO SACRIFICE

We have to be willing to make whatever sacrifice is necessary in order to remain committed to the task we’ve been given or feel passionate to carry out. I am committed to raising my young daughters to be respectful, purposeful women of God who know that they are loved by their father. When I’m at a conference or away teaching I will take late flights instead of flying the next morning in order to make it home as quickly as possible. I take time out of my day to commit to them in the form of a daddy–daughter date or story time. That in and of itself is not the sacrifice. The sacrifice is that it requires me to work until midnight and beyond in order to recapture those hours. Commitment should cause us to gain a new perspective on sacrifice.

COMMITMENT TO SUCCESS

Failure is not an option! Almost everyone, when asked, will say they desire to be successful – and they should. We must remember that success is deeply personal and different for every individual. My success will look different from your success while both remain equally valid. Success should only be measured according to the fruit we manifest compared to the seeds that were planted in us by God. If everyone makes their primary commitment to their Creator, our individual and collective success will be assured. “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established” (Prov. 16:3). Once He establishes the plan, we have to work the plan. Commit to the work. Commit to His will. Commit not just to the notion of being successful but to the actions of being purposeful.