Commit
Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford
The most interesting entry in the Topical Guide to the Scriptures is the entry for “Commitment”.
Okay, possibly it’s just the one I’m the most interested in right now.
But it is a strange entry. In nearly 70 verses quoted from the scriptures, the actual word “commit”, is only referenced twice.
The other words used?
- follow x5
- heart x7
- heartily
- choose
- steadfastly x4
- covenant x5
- fixed
- purposed (in his heart)
- seek
- doeth x2
- doing x2
- doers
- perfect
- plough
- finish
- commend
- continue
- life
- commandments x2
- ready
- obeyed
- works
- committed
- obedient
- continue
- offer
- change
- converted
- steadiness
- willing
- might
- determination
- witness
- embrace
- observe
- vows
- sacrifice
- desiring
What a list.
A lot of people (myself the king among them) struggle with motivation. But when you search for scriptures on motivation, you find a topical guide entry for “motivations” that encompass everything from compassion to greed to lust. I suppose you could go through entries on types of motivation that you want, like love, or duty, et cetera. But In the commitment entry I’ve stumbled onto a treasure trove of stories of motivated people.
I think I’m going to go through this entry for the next month or so, looking at the conditions that surround these motivated people.
I started today, and it’s already paid off.
First reference in the entry? Numbers 14:24. Moses had sent a forward scouting party into the land the Lord has set aside for the children of Israel. The scouts come back, and the land? It’s great. “Flowing with milk and honey”. One problem. Giants. Massive people that make the children of Israel look like insects. (that’s literally the comparison they make, they felt like grasshoppers. I’m imagining your average 5’4″ Filipino standing next to bunch of Shaquille O’Neals.)
The scouts are all terrified, except for two. Caleb and Joshua.
They were gung ho for the fight. They think the people of Israel could eat the giants for breakfast. (they literally say the giants will be “as bread for us”.) The word used to describe them that made it into the “commitment” list, is “followed” (me fully).
Why were Joshua and Caleb so motivated? At one level, it simply came down to their confidence. They believed they could. More specifically, they believed that God could.
It’s an applied example of Ford’s “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Searching for motivation? Maybe turn inward for a moment, and remember what you can do. Remember the times God has sent you manna and split your personal Red Seas. You can do this.
