Committed

Yesterday I wrote on "commitment". There was a lackluster response to be truthful! Why? Because few of us have commitment. Today I write on "committed". Not in the context of which you're thinking, but an act of mercy for our insanity!

Albert Einstein once said, or he could have said it many times, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Thank you, Al! I could not have said it better, but someone else did which we'll see shortly! Most of us should be committed for our insanity.

Terri and I pass by Hopkinsville Hospital (a sanitorium) on occasion. As we do I never neglect to point out her future home! (Smile). That's not politically correct because dementia, retardation and the like is certainly not funny, but as humans we deal with what's possible by being outrageous. Tomorrow that could be my domain, but by the grace of God, I pray that it won't be! I want to punch my ticket to heaven in my right mind because when I get there, regardless of my insanity here, I will be sane, even wise, there.

While progressives won't like my commentary on insanity because it isn't empathetic by any means, insanity is a common malfunction of mankind.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

Perhaps Einstein wasn't the first to define insanity!  "Vexation" is extreme annoyance or worry. The results of continual vexation can be that a person becomes "sick" to the extent of having mental abnormality. Worry can drive a person crazy. Insanity is an existence in a world of fiction reinforced by false perceptions of what's real. Those who ruminate on the vanities of life cultivate the rows leading toward the harvest of insane thoughts. "There is no thing new under the sun!" said the wise man, yet we do old things over and over again with the same results: failure. We fail once, then time and time again. That's insane!

However, you and I claim success, but one of us is wrong. Which of us is the insane one? We each say "It's not me... it must be you!" because insane people fail to recognize their own insanity! Let me pose  a question as an "insanity check". "Did you do something in the past which failed you miserably, yet you did it again... and again?" If you answer that question in the affirmative perhaps you're either a masochist or you're insane, being little difference between the two in the end. I have lived in that crazy world. I know of what I speak!

Let's look at this scenario: You believe in Jesus and that you can't "save" yourself. You even believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Furthermore, you know that in order to be saved, you must commit your life to Jesus. However, "commit" is a strong word, which the reader, if he had read yesterday's blog, would be aware.  The devil attacks most heartily the ones who are the most committed, so the Christians who have little commitment are "easy pickin's"  Those with little commitment are crazy and just as the insane person is "committed" to a mental institution, the spiritually insane commits themselves to eternal death if we're not careful!

People get "safed" once! When we become "born-again" our life starts anew. However, as we commit ourselves to Jesus, Satan tests that commitment. (I often refer to the story of Job as how that test works). God makes us "safe" from death, but he still allows the devil to lurk around us, wreaking havoc and tempting. Satan doesn't do that for the fun of it. He has a purpose. Satan's M.O. is promoting our apostasy.

God has much grace! Although a new person all still sin. Because he experienced humanity himself, God empathizes. He knows how hard it is and provides a process for us to be renewed. Christians repent! Not just at the altar on occasion, but continual repentance because sinning is continuous. It's when we're above God, our hearts have hardened to the checking of the Holy Spirit, that we may become reprobate, if we're not careful! That's a dangerous position because we can only be born-again one time... not again and again!

Hebrews 6:4 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."

Being "born-again" AGAIN isn't possible for to allow that would crucify Jesus and shame him. When we're born-again it's a one time event and if we become reprobate, we are in apostasy! Christians who know and have experienced the rebirth experience, yet turn their backs entirely away form God, are insane. When Christians sin time and time again we open our lives to insanity. Rather than being committed to Jesus we commit our minds to a life of insanity. Think about it! It takes an insane person to risk their eternal destiny for a little earthly pleasure, yet we all do that. We all have degrees of spiritual insanity and need to be committed to a protection program (symbolic: Hopkinsville)!

Others can't commit us to "cure" our insanity. We must be sane enough to commit ourselves. There is an institution where we are kept from harm, where Satan is held at bay and where peace resides for our safety. That place is in the kingdom of God! That's where we do God's will:

Matthew 6:10 "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

Our Hopkinsville, where those spiritually insane, is God's Kingdom! There is where we do things right here and now as they are done in heaven! Think on those things and be delivered from insanity. Sinning over and over again, or as Einstein implies, is failing time and time again. We're insane for doing that! We don't HAVE to sin. Sin is a CHOICE! When we sin we do irrational acts which with repetition can lead to that spiritual insanity! We will always do irrational things as all men do, but God's will is that we don't be irrational to the degree of what's insane; being reprobate!