As I embark on this 7 day devotional: The 7 Laws of Love, I will take you with me and share with you what God shares with me.
The purpose of this devotional is to give practical advice on how to turn love into action, thus allowing you to practice and experience the beauty of love.
Day 1: Law of Commitment | 1 Kings 19:19-21
Love requires commitment. That statement alone can go a long way. If you examine your relationships with the people you love, family, friends, significant others and most importantly God, there's a level of commitment that's required to reassure the other person that there is a firm foundation to the relationship. You want to know that the person you love is committed to loving you and supporting you.
Commitment also means, abandoning the exit strategy. When reading that I questioned why you would abandon your way of escape. Wouldn't you want to be able to get out if things go wrong? Well as I kept reading I realized that that was the point. Even when things go wrong, your commitment is what should keep you there. You have to remain loyal. The writer used the example of Elisha abandoning his exit strategy to pursue the ministry God called him to. He was torn between protecting his legacy and finical stability and going after what he knew God has for him. It was a decision that would change his life forever. So what he chose to do was abandon his crops & the farm he was so attached to so that when things got rough, he wouldn't have anything to turn to, only God!!! I don't know if you caught that. He removed the very thing that would tempt him to turn his back on God in order to commit himself to the love he had for God!
Love requires commitment, commitment means abandoning your exit strategy. Many of us want a safety net for our love. We are afraid to go ALL IN but when you are truly living according to God's plan for your life, He will weed out all the people you need to be "saved" from so that your love for those He intended for your life can be BOLD and COURAGEOUS! He doesn't want you hiding in the shadows or trying to protect the "legacy" you think you're leaving behind. Anytime He calls you out of one place in your life and asks you to go to where He needs you to be, TRUST Him! He will make sure that everything you had is restored and then some. His plans for our lives are so much greater than we can imagine but in order to get there, we must remove the things in our lives that would tempt us to GO BACK to and commit to the love we've established with Him and all those we love.
"Love thrives where love is rooted in commitment. Make sure your loved ones know your love isn't just a fickle feeling; it's a promise for your shared future. Embrace a deeper sense of responsibility for and accountability to your loved ones, and you'll be cultivating fertile soil where lasting love can take root"
-Estonia Mosby