A Passionate Commitment: Recapturing Your Sense of Purpose
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A Passionate Commitment: Recapturing Your Sense of Purpose
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781575678429 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Moody Publishers |
| Publication date: | 07/05/1996 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 564 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
A Passionate Commitment
Recapturing Your Sense of Purpose
By Crawford W. Loritts
Moody Press
Copyright © 1996 Crawford W. LorittsAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57567-842-9
CHAPTER 1
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE
Monuments to Materialism vs. Prominence of Christ
Darryl Hicks is thirty-five years old. He is respected as a loving husband and father, a faithful church member, and a successful and honest attorney.
At sixteen he invited Christ into his life and began to grow immediately. He developed a consistent spiritual discipline, spending an hour each morning in Bible study and prayer. He started praying fervently for his family and his non-Christian friends. He consistently made time to go out with the church youth group every Thursday evening to share Christ with others.
Even in college, despite the demands of his challenging courses and a heavy work schedule, he made time for his personal spiritual nurture and ministry opportunities. He attended the weekly meetings of one of the Christian groups on his campus and went with them to several conferences throughout the year. He dropped out of college for a year after his mother died and he found himself needing time to research and pray about some questions he had, but he returned with his faith stronger than ever.
The guy was incredible. He even found time for a social life, and he and Margaret Bailey began dating occasionally in their sophomore year. By the end of their junior year things got serious between them. They became engaged and two weeks after graduation they were married.
Throughout law school Darryl continued his service for Christ. He and Margaret joined a local church in their community and became very active. Darryl served as youth adviser and chairman of the outreach committee.
Things were "working" for Darryl and Margaret. During Darryl's time at law school Margaret gave birth to the first of their three children, a boy. Financially, things were tight, but as a couple they were very happy.
Darryl graduated from law school with honors, passed the bar examination the first time around, and was recruited by a prestigious law firm. Because of his brilliance and diligence, Darryl became successful in a relatively short time. In fact, after only four years with the firm he was asked to become a partner. Finally, the years of sacrifice and hard work were paying off, and in a big way.
The success, in a strange way, was bittersweet. It is true they were well off financially—they bought a beautiful, spacious home; they owned two late model cars; they even bought a condominium in the mountains. But Darryl often would be in the office by seven in the morning, and he seldom left before seven or eight in the evening, including some Saturdays. With three children, the endless pressures of his law practice, his civic commitment, and the growing need to spend quality time with Margaret, Darryl began to feel squeezed. He felt it particularly strongly in his spiritual life. In the past he had known a refreshing sense of joy and an endless supply of spiritual energy. Now, where there was once a burning desire to obey God and minister to the needs of others, he experienced dryness. His was a cold, mechanical Christianity.
One evening, Darryl and Margaret invited their best friends, a couple from their church, over for dinner. As their time together drew to a close, Darryl told of his spiritual struggle. "I am not experiencing the same passionate commitment to Christ that I once had. Although I still read my Bible and pray," he said, "I have lost my sense of mission and purpose as a Christian."
One friend asked, "Why do you think that has happened?"
"I don't know; I guess I'm just consumed by all the demands of the present."
As their friends were leaving, Darryl commented, "Although I'm thankful for my success, I know there is much more to life. I know God wants much more from me."
SPIRITUAL APATHY
I wish I could say Darryl's struggle is unique. It is not. He suffers from the same spiritual paralysis that grips much of contemporary Christianity. Many wonderful people outwardly have a fine Christian life. They go to church every Sunday, perhaps even attend prayer meetings, give their money to the church and other Christian ministries, have nice families, read their Bibles, and pray. Yet, underneath all the Christian activity there is a coldness and, at times, a confusion about the place and prominence of Jesus Christ in their inner lives.
It is a painfully sad and all too familiar reality that the pressures of life and the apathetic materialism in our society have caused the world to be more "salt and light" to us than we have been to the world. I deeply believe that these are the most threatening times in terms of impact for the cause of Christ that have been known in the history of the church. Admittedly, that is a strong statement. Take a look around you, though. Even as I write these words several of our prominent Christian leaders have had to leave the ministry in disgrace. Others have preached a gospel of self-indulgence and personal prosperity, and they have led thousands down this trail of perverted Christianity. No wonder some of their "ministries" have been plagued with financial impropriety, donor scams, and a legacy of monuments to materialism, to say nothing of the moral offenses—all done in the name of the Lord!
What about the crucified life?
What about being conformed to the sufferings of Christ? No, you can't have your cake and eat it too. That spells worldliness in the truest sense. We may be on our way to becoming the apathetic students of Satan's discipleship program.
And that's the point.
The self-centered apathy of our culture has produced a compromised Christianity, which has in turn produced a directionless Christianity—a Christianity that only responds, but does not initiate.
As we look at Darryl, and as we examine our own lives, we see clearly how compromise (which is usually subtle) will eventually produce fruitlessness. Darryl represents a Christianity thatis in the vicinity, but not really at the right location.
CHRISTIAN ASSUMPTIONS
A few years ago my wife, Karen, and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner. We had been to their home before and I was familiar with the area, so I thought there would be no problem finding the house. Wrong! We drove around for more than an hour, frustrated because we knew we were only a few blocks away, but we couldn't find the place. Not only were we lost, but I also had to deal with Karen's I-told-you-so's. This experience is a reminder that assumptions can get a person into trouble. A quick phone call before we left the house would have saved us from all that hassle and stress.
Assumptions have gotten many Christians into spiritual hot water. Jesus Christ came to give us an abundant, fruitful Christianity, filled with specific direction and purpose. Although we have a general sense of direction, many of us have assumed either that somehow we can work out the details or that everything will fall into place. We fail to realize that we do not live in a favorable or even a neutral environment. Every day our commitment to Christ is assaulted by the world, the flesh, or the devil. Therefore, our Christianity must take the offensive—it must be intentional.
I am convinced that many of us have a general sense of purpose, but, in terms of the internal direction of our lives and the peace that comes from submitting our wills to God's, we're confused. We suffer from the same problem Darryl has. We outwardly conform to what we say we believe, but inwardly there is coldness. We privately confess that we know God wants and deserves more from us.
The critical question is: How do we recapture our sense of purpose? That's what this book is about. I am a fellow pilgrim with you in the struggle to maintain my sense of mission and direction in the Christian life. I want to assure you that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will help us to see clearly the direction in which we need to go. He will reveal to us the critical ingredients needed to recover a sense of freshness in our Christian lives and, thus, a sense of mission.
CHAPTER 2MAKING WISE CHOICES
Solomon's Five Crucial Principles
There's a lot of truth in that old saying, "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn anything at all from history."
I'm a child of the post-World War II baby boom. We've heard an awful lot about the baby boomers in recent years, both good and bad. My generation has shaped the values of American society as none other in the twentieth century. We have experienced a lot.
In fact, I've identified a four-phase shift in emphasis on values, spanning the past forty years, to which all the baby boomers have had a front row seat. From 1946 to 1960, America labored under a philosophy of personal peace and materialism. In other words, we just didn't want any more bad news. We had crawled out of the Great Depression; we'd been through a horrible war; now we were eager to let the good times roll. We craved prosperity. We wanted our slice of the economic pie—a single family home, a couple of cars in the garage, and maybe even a little vacation cottage on the lake.
Some of our parents overcompensated for the hard times they had experienced. For example, my parents frequently reminded my two sisters and me that they didn't want us to have it as hard as they did during the Depression. So they provided for more than our wants and cushioned us from some of the hard knocks. No, we were not well off. Dad was simply determined to do the very best he could for his family, partially, I'mconvinced, because he was haunted by the economic horrors of his Depression generation. He would remind us of how he had to walk several miles to school and of the times when all they had to eat was beans. I can understand his wanting us to have it better. As I look back, though, I think a little sacrifice and a bit of suffering for us baby boomers could have made us a little less selfish and might have strengthened our character.
Enter the next phase. Between 1960 and 1968, education was the order of the day. That's not to say that we abandoned the pursuit of materialism; there just was a heightened emphasis on higher education during this period. So off we went to flood the hallowed halls of higher learning. We thought that if we could study the great minds and master the great academic disciplines, we could unlock the door to significance and success in life. We also would be able to solve all the problems of the world.
In 1968, though, the pleasant dream was interrupted by a nightmare. We were officially into the third phase: drugs and revolution.
Nineteen sixty-eight was some year! It brought the escalation of the war in Vietnam; the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.; and the emergence of a drug-pushing prophet named Timothy Leary, a former Harvard professor turned grand pied piper of the drug culture.
Our hopes were shattered. The youth culture felt powerless. Our heroes were gone. Our friends and loved ones were being blown up in a war that, apparently, we were not committed to winning. Trust in our government was rapidly deteriorating. We demanded change. We responded with anger and activism. We marched, picketed, sat in, and even burned a few cities. Some of us fled the country. Others succumbed to Leary's gospel of LSD, choosing to drop out completely. LSD gave my generation a "mind-expanding" magic carpet ride. We thought that drugs could solve the problems of the individual and that revolution could solve the collective problems of society. It has been a long journey. In fact, some still have not returned from the trip.
However, in 1972 we began to enter the fourth phase, which we are still in. We reverted to phase one, personal peaceand materialism, but with a strong, malignant dose of apathy.
In the early seventies things began to settle down. In 1972 President Nixon put the brakes on the Vietnam War. Leary's followers realized that their minds were being exploded rather than expanded through LSD. Many of the activists traded their pickets for three-piece, pin-striped suits and seats in the board room, city hall, and Congress.
TODAY'S PRIORITIES
Now, I suspect the pendulum has swung too far. I applaud the progress we are making; and I certainly am not in favor of violence, drugs, or anarchy. However, I must admit I find the apathetic materialism more frightening than the revolutionary atmosphere of 1969. At that time, Christianity had a clear context. You knew where you stood, and you knew where biblical Christianity stood—in stark contrast to the lifestyle of the time. Today it's not so clear.
At least in the 1960s we seemed to be concerned about others (even if we only gave lip service to that concern). Not so today. I get the distinct impression that the only cause many of us are committed to is our cause. It's my agenda. What's in it for me?
Even some (not all) of the Christian "activism" leaves me flat. I can't help but question the motives of some of my brothers and sisters who recently have discovered the political process. Don't get me wrong; all citizens, including responsible Christians, have an obligation to be involved in the political process. I wonder sometimes, though, are we involved because we want to see societal change for the good of the individual, or are we involved because we want to be in power and control? While some may want merely to protect individual rights, the compassionate Christian will be driven to be used of God as an expression of His love and forgiveness in the world in which we live.
The apathetic materialism of our society has had much more influence on us than we'd like to admit. The pressure of living in this era is one of the most powerful reasons many Christians have become cold and indifferent. We have redesigned our theology in order to make it more palatable. We now have a cultural Christianity that allows us to acquire as much as we want with little self-sacrifice and virtually no eternal values.
WISE AND FOOLISH CHOICES
King Solomon was one of the wealthiest and wisest men of all times. In today's dollars, one scholar said, he would not be simply a multi-millionaire, but a multi-billion aire. I guess you could say almost everything he touched turned to gold.
Solomon wrote three books of the Bible: Proverbs (most of it), the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon opens his heart and reveals his deepest feelings and his philosophy of life. It's almost as if he were leaving a legacy for succeeding generations. It is interesting to note what Solomon does not say in this book.
He does not give us a formula for material success.
He does not tell us how to become prominent and affluent.
Solomon goes deeper than that; he talks about what he has learned through his successes and failures in life.
I believe that the book of Ecclesiastes has a prophetic message for our time and society. It brings us face to face with some key principles through which we can restructure our value system. Considering these principles will help us think biblically about our lifestyle and the purpose of life.
The overriding message of Ecclesiastes, simply stated, is: It is foolish and destructive to think that the center of life is material gain.
Solomon tells us we should enjoy life and the comforts that may come our way; however, he reminds us repeatedly that "all is vanity"—empty and fleeting.
FIVE CRUCIAL PRINCIPLES
Solomon supports his proposition by giving us five crucial principles, lessons from an enormously successful man (at least in the eyes of the world). These principles are not necessarily sequential, but are interwoven throughout the book. So, rather than giving the specific passages, let me encourage you to take note of the principles and read the book for yourself.
The Emptiness of Human Wisdom
The first principle is:
In the ultimate sense, human wisdom is empty.
It is important that we look at what Solomon does not mean. He is not saying we should not have educational or intellectual goals. He is not saying we should not use our God-given mental faculties to solve our problems or to plan and set goals for the future.
He is saying that no matter how brilliant we are, human minds are limited. Our wisdom is empty in that it cannot direct or control our destiny. The human mind, the intricate, marvelous wonder that it is, is not greater than God. Even our "collective" mind can never replace God or solve the problems that we face as human beings: greed, poverty, war, injustice, etc.
That's why humanism is such a futile philosophy. For humanism contends that man, not God, is the center of the universe and that through our systematic, purposeful, intellectual development we (mankind) will be able to eradicate our problems and usher in utopia.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Passionate Commitment by Crawford W. Loritts. Copyright © 1996 Crawford W. Loritts. Excerpted by permission of Moody Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Getting the Most Out of Life
2. Making Wise Choices
3. New Testament Discipleship
4. Paying the Price
5. The Critical Decision
6. Pursuing a Life of Purpose
7. Understanding Our Marching Orders
8. The Mission and the Command
9. The Power Source
What People are Saying About This
One of the most effective communicators I know, Crawford Loritts certainly exemplifies the kind of passionate commitment to God's purposes that he calls for in this book.-Josh McDowell, Josh McDowell MinistryCrawford Loritts has given us a guidebook for effective Christian living that is solidly based in Scripture and graphically illustrated from life. A Passionate Commitment is a vibrant introduction to life as it was meant to be.-Robertson McQuilkin, Chancellor, Columbia Bible College & SeminaryIt is precisely because Crawford himself possesses a passionate commitment to Christ that he can write so effectively about this needed subject. You will find this book stimulating, challenging and inspirational. Read it at the risk of starting up your own passionate commitment to Christ.-Anthony T. Evans, Senior Pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, President, The Urban AlternativeOne of the most important and timely books written for Christians in our generation. Crawford's passion for service becomes contagious as he interweaves biblical principles for commitment and purposeful living around many of the important issues we face today. I highly recommend this book to any Christian serious about a dynamic walk of faith.-John Perkins, Founder and President, Foundation for Reconciliation & DevelopmentA Passionate Commitment is no fluffy, tickle-your-ear treatise on Christian living. These pages on purposeful living will challenge you, reverse your attitude and demand a response. Crawford is one of the few men who could write these words and authentically back them up.-Dennis Rainey, Executive Director, FamilyLife