TD Jakes - Committed (09/08/2018)
Emphasizing commitment as essential for destiny, the preacher teaches that without full investment—reciprocity in relationships, church, family, dreams—we remain casual, never reaching potential; true success demands throwing whole self despite cost, opposition, or delay, for God honors tenacious faith over talent alone.
The Cost of Casual Living
Hello, everybody. I am so glad to have the opportunity to be blessed to be in your home, and to be part of your life, and to talk to you just very practically today out of the Word of God. I believe it is going to bless you in a significant way.
We all want changes. We want changes. We want changes over here and over there. In some area of our lives we want God to do something. But, without commitment nothing really happens. So, today we are going to talk about commitment. Buckle your seatbelts. You are in for a ride, commitment.
Levi means to be joined, to be connected, to be focused, to be committed. That is something we do not see anymore. Oh, we have the ceremonies. We still have weddings. But, people do not get married anymore. I mean, even the people in the wedding, the bride and the groom. We throw rice at them. We give them a certificate. But, they do not get married. They move in together. They get the tax deduction. But, they are not married. They are not joined together.
Because, the first little wind, the first little storm, the first little problem, the first little weakness, the first little test they are out of there. They have no root. They have no connectivity. They are not joined. They are not committed. They do not have it in their character to withstand anything. They are only there for convenience. And, when they do not see the convenience or the connection they forsake the responsibility and walk away from their commitment.
We seldom see real church members, people. I have seen people come. If everybody who joined this church came one Sunday, it would kill us. They would come down here. They would sashay down here. They would walk over there. They would get all of the stuff. They would go through the little orientation, shake the hand. And, some of them people you never see them again.
We go through the actions of commitment. But, we are not really committed. We are not really connected. We are not really joined, because we have no understanding, check this, of our responsibility to any relationship.
Reciprocity: The Heart of Relationship
Write this down, you cannot have relationship without reciprocity. You cannot have true relationship without reciprocity. You cannot get into a relationship to get and not give. And, I want you to ask yourselves do you give as good as you get? Add up what you are getting and weigh it against what you are giving. And, then you will know whether you are really joined to anything.
Yeah, people will come to work. They take a job. They are not committed to the job. They want the check. They want the check. Well, everybody want some money, baby. I am going to say it again. Everybody want some money, baby. I am just here for the check. That is why it is not going to work for you. You do not understand the reciprocity. Anybody want some money. But, if you are not willing to give at least as good as you get, it will not last.
And, that is why you cannot stay anywhere or work for anybody. Because, you have never had Levi. You may have had Reuben. You might have had Simeon. But, you have never been joined to anything. So you collect anniversaries. You have got a lot of birthdays. You have got some plaques on the wall, But, you have never been the person that you could be. Because, the could be is locked up behind commitment. And, until you are committed you will never get the could be.
I am glad the choir sung "You are Happy." I do not have to worry about preaching "You are Happy." You know what I thought to myself? I thought, "I would hate to live and die and never know what would happen if I ever committed myself to anything." Some people have never thrown their whole self at nothing, not at school, not at work, not at marriage, not at church. Oh, my God. You have always been casual. And never been committed.
And, some of the most casual people are talented people. Because, talented people will lay on their talent and use their talent as a camouflage to cover up their lack of commitment. And, because you are talented enough to be able to float by on broken pieces, you will fool an indiscriminate eye into thinking that you are committed. You are not committed. You are just talented.
You will never know what you could have been if you would have really committed yourself. You are just talented enough to get over. And, you faked them out. And, you have been at 30 or 60-fold when you were created to be a 100-fold person. I just think it would be terrible. I cannot be committed to everything. I cannot join everything. I cannot be married to a thousand women. I cannot work a thousand jobs. I cannot join five churches because I take my commitment too seriously to spread it around loosely.
Your life is a false advertisement. Full color, big glossy ad, promising product you do not carry in your inventory. You would be shocked how many people sitting out there that can really sing. But, they are unwilling to make the commitment to make the rehearsals and do what it takes to be upfront. And so, they sit there on their talent. And, they will not do for God what they are asking God to do for them. And, they wonder why prayers are not answered.
Touch three people and say, "Commitment, commitment, commitment."
Commitment to God, Family, Church, Dream
You take a half committed man and a half committed, trifling woman and put them together. And, they will have some half committed, trifling kids. And, the whole house will be half committed because children will be what they see. Stop fussing at your kids. They are a reflection of you.
Your whole life is a facade. The whole thing is a fake. The whole thing is a front. Your whole life is a camouflage. And now, you are getting older. And, you will never get to see what you could have been because the cost of getting to see it is the commitment that you have never been willing to pay.
You are trying to get somebody to fall in love with a you that you have never discovered yourself. You come to the altar and you raise your hand. And, you say, "Lord, I give myself to you." But, you do not. You walk down here and join the church. And, you say, "Now, I am a member of the church." But, you are not.
You marry somebody and say, "You can count on me. I will be there through the thick and the thin, for better or for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and health." You did not mean it. Half studied, half worked, half labored and then wonder why, "I thought I would be further than I am today."
Let me tell you why you are not further. It is not the devil. It is not witches. It is not demons. And, it sure God ain't haters. You are not any further than where you are right now because you have never thrown your whole self at anything in your life. And, you think greatness goes on sale. But, true quality never goes on sale. Greatness costs what it costs.
Oh, my God help me in here today. I feel something about to take over this place. Somebody in this church is ready to receive this Word. You are ready to get your breakthrough. My God, I feel a miracle coming in this place today. I wish I had a hundred people that would give God a praise.
He told Abraham, "I swear I am going to bless you." Ain't no chance. Ain't no doubt. Ain't no joke about it. If I told you I was going to bless you, I will open up the window. The first commitment is to God. Your second commitment is to family. Your second commitment is to family. And, it is a very important commitment. It is a very important commitment.
You better be committed or you ain't going to make it. If you can only love me when you like me, we ain't going to make it, because sooner or later I am going to pluck your last nerve. And they will say, "How you like me now?" It is to your family, crazy as they are. If you are not committed you are not going to make it. Even the ones with the personalities you do not like. You will have to be committed through the storm, and the rain, and the heartache, and the pain, and the disappointment.
You will have to believe in the "we" and the "us" and not the "me" and the "you." Or, you are not going to make it. It is a commitment. It is not a feeling. You got to come home when you are in love and you got to come home when you are not in love or you are not going to make it. And, stay there until the love comes back. It is a commitment.
Y'all do not want to hear real truth. You want to hear fairy tale, Hollywood, shake and bake stuff. But, in reality it is a commitment. You are my son in my house. You are my son when you took the money. You are my son in the hog pen. You are my son in the whorehouse. You are my son on the road back home. It is a commitment.
And, if you are not going to be committed you do not need no kids. Commitment to God. Number two, commitment to your family. We are going to get through this. That should be the language you approach your family with. We will get through this. We may have to bunk up. We may have to move in together. We may have to put our backs up against each other. We may have to both get part time jobs.
We may have to come out sideways. But, we will get through this. When you get me you get help. If I walk in the room, help came in the room. I am going to add something to you, I am going to add something to you. I am going to add something to you. I will not take something from you unless I add something to you. I will be an asset and not a liability.
If I stay in your house, you are going to miss me when I leave. I am going to add something to you. I am not going to take something from you. If I join your church you are going to feel the impact that something has been added to you. The only number that does not add to the sum total of the equation is a zero. What do people get when they get you? If you can describe it, define it, and deliver on it you will never be without. Everybody wants an asset. Liabilities get left behind.
Number four, commitment to your dream. You cannot get people to believe in your dream until you believe in it yourself. Stop asking people to invest in things where you have no investment. Stop asking people to deliver something to you where you are not willing to go to the wire for yourself. Nobody is going to put into your dream before you put in.
You will have to invest in what you dream for. Hallelujah to God. A golf club is just a golf club. You can pay $500 or $5,000 for it. It is just a golf club until you put it into the hands of Tiger Woods. When you put it into the hands of Tiger Woods, the value shoots up. It is the same set of clubs. All you added was commitment.
When you would get it into the hands of somebody who is committed to a dream, who has been working when they was 5 and swinging since they were 6, and swinging when they were 9, and swinging when they were 12. Oh, yes you are going to get a great return because there is a great investment.
I just think it would be terrible. I cannot be committed to everything. I cannot join everything. I cannot be married to a thousand women. I cannot work a thousand jobs. I cannot join five churches because I take my commitment too seriously to spread it around loosely.
Your life is a false advertisement. Full color, big glossy ad, promising product you do not carry in your inventory. You would be shocked how many people sitting out there that can really sing. But, they are unwilling to make the commitment to make the rehearsals and do what it takes to be upfront. And so, they sit there on their talent. And, they will not do for God what they are asking God to do for them. And, they wonder why prayers are not answered.
Touch three people and say, "Commitment, commitment, commitment."
I have got to stop. This is a big subject and many people struggle with it. They mean well. They have sincere hearts. They promised so much more than they are able to deliver because they do not understand commitment.
What if you threw your whole self into the vision that God has given you rather than just hitting at it? What would you achieve? You cannot conquer what you are not willing to commit to. Take that Word with you today. And, may God bless you and strengthen you. That is my prayer for you.