commitment>excitement

Commitment > Excitement (Read time ≈ 7 minutes)
​1 Kings 8:61
Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
 
        Since we were children, we all craved excitement. As adults, things are no different. Sports, movies, adventures, social drama, politics and more. We have many different tastes for excitement and nearly endless sources. The issue we face as adults, especially in the generation we live in today, is that people have the tendency to want little to no involvement in anything that isn’t exciting. This is becoming an issue even to the point to where people will quit their jobs because they’re “just not feelin’ it”. We know that an income is essential to paying bills and surviving. Making decisions like this based off emotion or, lack of emotion, can be detrimental to our well-being today as well as our future. Don’t misunderstand the point. I love some good excitement! Who doesn’t?! I love a thrilling finish to an intense Yankees game, or a fun outdoor adventure. There is nothing wrong with excitement (assuming it’s morally acceptable); but the level of excitement we feel should not be the barometer in which we determine if something is worth our time.
 
        What about excitement in the things of God? Anyone who has been around the things of God long enough will know that exciting things are bound to happen! Miracles of many kinds, special times of worship, an experience of God’s Spirit speaking straight to yours and so on. These are beautiful things, but if we base our spiritual experience off excitement, we will have one of two things happen.
One: You will get carried away by false theologies that are built on excitement rather than the Word of God. There is an entire industry today disguised as religion in today’s world that is built around triggering your emotions and feeding in to our desire to feel excited. The worship is more of a concert than worship, the preaching is more of a motivational, feel-good speech delivered with clever phrases and high energy rather than preaching the Word of God as it is (yes, even the less thrilling stuff), events are more of a social club gathering rather than something meant for the edification of the spirit or the growth and advancement of Gods kingdom. There are many who go as far as making up flat out heresy in false theology and staging fake miracles, just to keep the excitement high. These are not moves of God, they are organized entertainment. Paul deals with the dangers of succumbing to emotions and the desire for excitement in our faith, telling us “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us” (2 Thessalonians 2:2) and “let no one deceive you in any way” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Here Paul is speaking of false prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ, but the principal is the same, do not simply go with some new theology because it is exciting and makes your heart race! Rather, stay true to the Word of God.
Two: The excitement wears off and we abandon our faith, just like we have abandoned many things in the past that got boring, and we move on to the next thing.
 
        Excitement within the will of God is good! It is part of a healthy walk with God. Alone, however, is not enough. Excitement for the things of God is good, but underneath our excitement there needs to be true commitment. Excitement can fade; it can come and go; it can increase and decrease. Commitment lasts; it lasts through all emotional phases, through all seasons, through all highs and through all lows. Excitement is good, but commitment is necessary for the longevity of our faith. Commitment is hard, it’s not always thrilling. Even the disciples, who lives day to day life with Jesus Himself, dozed off in the garden when Jesus asked them to pray with Him (Matthew 26:36–46 & Mark 14:32–42). There is even record of someone falling asleep during a sermon by Paul the apostle (Acts 20:7-12)! It does give me comfort that even Paul preached a snoozer every now and then. The reality is, not ALL things in the will of God are exciting, nail biting, what will happen next, experiences. Afterall, the book of Leviticus and the heroic stories you read in the book of Joshua are both books in the Bible, but they are both deemed, the necessary, infallible Word of God and necessary to our well being and health of our walk with God. Profitable for teaching, reproof and correction for us each and every day so that we are ready for this life that God gave us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Times of our walk with God will feel tedious and even downright boring. This is why commitment is necessary. Commitment weathers through the trying times of boredom, when it feels like not much is going on. What we find though, through these times where so often many move on and give up, is that these times create an appreciation and adoration for God, who He is, the value of His Word and through this, the times of great excitement come even more exciting. We understand them deeper than before, we learn from them more than before, they become more than just an exciting experience but also a point of growth. Excitement is great, commitment is necessary, if we want to press on to the end and receive the prize (Philippians 3:13-14).