How Committed Are You?

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have
always obeyed-not only in my presence, but
now much more in my absence-continue to
work out your salvation with fear and
trembling,for it is God who works in you
to will and to act according to his good
purpose." Phippians 2:12-13



I had this thought the other day about training
as an athlete. When I competed at the elite
level for my sport, so much of my success and
the success of my team came from our preparation.
It's not hard to prepare when everybody is looking.
It's easier to push yourself to be the best when
you have a team of 17 other girls who are also the
very best in the world. The goals are high and
expectations are met when you are surrounded with
amazing talent.

But what about when you are by yourself? How
do you push through your body wanting to give up
and your mind thinking, "Nobody will know if I
skip out on my conditioning work out today." In
my life, I believe it was overcoming those thoughts
with the desire to leave no stone unturned! I
wanted to know when I took the field that I had
put in every workout and grounded every ball hit
to me and hit in the cages as much as possible!

This is where the saying comes in: "You're only as
good as you are when nobody is looking." Many
people will work hard as long as somebody is noticing.
Once nobody is around, they slide as much as possible.
Many people will cut corners, but those who don't
will reap what they sow. Hard work will pay off-
and hard work with nobody looking will make a huge
difference.

I want to take this one step further and talk about
the verses I put up top. Paul was talking about
obedience to God and how the Christians in Philippi
were obedient to God, whether Paul was there or not.
God sees what nobody else does. Some people will
act one way when people are around but another way
when they are with a crowd that doesn't believe in
God. Or they will do something but in their heart
they have anger or jealousy. Maybe nobody knows
they feel this way but God does. He wants us to
be Christ-like, but that will only happen with us
asking for God's help.

The Bible teaches us that our obedience
does matter and God blesses obedience. What are
we doing when nobody else is looking? Obedience
isn't only what we shouldn't do, but also what
we should do (pray, read the Bible, etc). I still
have a long way to go, but through God's work in
my life, I have become more committed to God than
I was in the past. So I leave you with this thought:

"You are only as committed to God as you are
when nobody is looking."