THE KEYS TO COMMITMENT

Text- Ruth 1:16,17

Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.   17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (NIV)

Introduction

This morning our text is found in Ruth 1:16,17 and the subject of my message is, "The Keys To Commitment".

Here in our text we find the story about Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth.  After Naomi's husband and her two sons died, Naomi told her daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth to go back to their own homes while she left the land of Moab and went back to the land of Judah.  In verse 14 we are told that Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye and then went back to her people, but Ruth clung to Naomi.  Here in this passage is a wonderful example what real commitment is all about.

A man rode in his car as it was being towed to be repaired.  When they arrived at the repair shop, the tow truck driver told him, "I didn't think I was going to make it up that big hill."

The man replied, "I didn't either. That's why I kept the brakes on so we wouldn't roll backwards."

To live without total commitment to Christ is the same as trying to go forward and to hold back at the same time.

Today possibly more than ever before there is a need for the Lord's churches and for God's people to be totally committed.  So, this morning I would like us to look at three aspects of commitment that are necessary for us to be the kind of Christians God wants us to be.  Let's look now at what the Bible says about commitment.