It is late afternoon and I’m “prowling” my phone’s app store…
The correct word may be “browsing”, 
but that’s not what I do in an app store.
I prowl. I hunt for apps that meet two criteria:
- They must be new…
- They must be free…
it doesn’t take much commitment to download a free app!
I found one!
A new weather app. It promises lots of graphics and an easy to use interface.
The app is downloading. And downloading. And downloading.
Finally, it is finished.
The app opens.
The default city is the developer’s location, two thousand miles away. I click around the app, but can’t figure out how to add locations or delete the developer’s city.
It’s sunny and 70 degrees where he lives. I am happy for him. It’s snowing outside my window.
If I have to look at that sunny-and-seventy forecast one more time, I may just…Delete the app!!
There, I did it. I deleted it. It’s gone.
I have a low commitment level to apps. I am quick to download them, but quick to delete them if they don’t meet my expectations.
Do I approach God the same way? With great excitement, but little commitment?
Am I the rocky ground of the parable of the sower?
Luke 8 4-8; 11-15
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
11“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
How do we avoid being the rocky ground? How do we become the good soil of verse fifteen?
Could it start with a commitment to “hear the word” in personal Bible study, in church services, through online study tools?
Does it continue with a commitment to “persevere” in good times and bad to produce a crop?
Is that what it takes to have God say…
“Well done, good and faithful servant!” Mathew 25:23
2 thoughts on “Is Our Commitment to God Too High?”
Your title “Everyday Servant” just took on another meaning: EVERY day Servant! Every. single. day. Whether we “feel” like it or not.
Just this morning I read a quote from C S Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”. Sorry to give such a long quote, but I can’t say it quite as well as he does:
[The demon Screwtape writes:] Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
Thanks for the comment and the quote, Elaine. (who ever says it better than C.S. Lewis?) Interesting that you would mention the Every Day and Everyday meanings of the title. That very same thought has been going through my mind a lot lately.