Commitment

TUESDAY, SEPT. 15, 1981, 5:26 AM
FARM, STUDY

You have made another commitment of time and regularity to Me, o son, and about this I am pleased. I didn’t exactly arrange the situation, as I did the original one with the manuscript, but I am glad that you fairly quickly considered this to be so… and committed yourself to two weeks of study with the Holy Spirit. It coincides, of course, with Lenore’s being gone, and that’s fine. I understand your commitment to her and what her needs are. Your sporadic commitment during “regular life” is acceptable. But this every day commitment is better. You shall appreciate the results.

What you are doing represents one of the truths about commitment… that there are commitments of self and of regularity. You have committed yourself to Me. (Oh, your maturity is such that you still might shy away from a confrontation about your faith in Me, but even that becomes less probable each day.) You have little doubt that I am real and that I am an active observer of (and sometimes participant in) all that you do, and say, and are. It is I in you, and you in Me, just as John describes it. So it seems unlikely that your basic commitment to Me would steadily wane… though I accept that is may wobble in its intensity from time to time.

A commitment of time and regularity, however, is somewhat different. It usually is based on the original commitment of self, but it makes that original more tangible. Most Christians, your fellow believers, “believe” in the Holy Spirit, and, if asked, they would admit allegiance to Me. Yet few would make such a commitment as this, “believing” in My Power to teach, but not enough to make the commitment that is necessary for learning to result.

You are committed to your professional field, health education. You also are committed to being a contributing writer-author. Yet you rarely make specific commitments of time to accomplish this. If you did, your commitment would be much more tangible… much more open and visible to others. Now, of course, the commitments to Me and to your profession may conflict, because of the apparent phenomena of time. Still, believe what I have told you previously – when you have a teaching from Me… and expenditure of time… it is an investment that shall not diminish the time you have for other matters. Commitment to Me may seem to be costly, but in final actuality you get back more than you put in. Isn’t that the essence of investment?

You also have made a commitment to the study of the gospel of John, and this shall be an interesting contribution to your faith. There shall be some moments of doubt about the value of the study, but I urge you to persist.