Total Commitment

Total Commitment

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14

According to a Haitian parable, a man wanted to sell his house. Another man wanted very badly to buy it but couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door. The request seemed harmless to the buyer, and the deal was struck. After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner hung the carcass of a dead dog from the nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.

The point of the parable is simple. If we leave the devil one small area in our lives, he will return to hang his rotting garbage there, making it unfit for Christ’s indwelling. True commitment, whether it be to Christ, to each other, or to any other person or cause, requires us to dedicate every aspect of our beings to the goal we have set.

The apostle Paul understood this when he wrote to the Philippians encouraging them by example to “[forget] the past . . . press on . . . and receive the heavenly prize.”

If you were to symbolically identify the “small nail” over the doorframe of your life that needs your attention right now, what would it be and why? What about on the frame of your marriage relationship? If there is anything that needs to be pulled out, talk it over with your spouse today.

Guidance means I can count on God. Commitment means God can count on me.

—Anonymous