COMMITMENT

I haven't blogged for some time and I've missed posting.  I hope to have more posts later.  Today, I was hoping to do another "Master Quotes" post but in the process of preparing that post, I got sidetracked and watched one of my recorded programs, The Potter's Touch. The Potter's Touch is a show that broadcasts the sermons and church services that take place at Potter's house, where Bishop TD Jakes ministers. Ohhhhhh...the message on commitment hit me smack dab in the face!

Here are some quotes from his message on commitment:

"If you don't have commitment, you will not succeed." 

"...you get the crumbs that fall from the Master's table but you don't get the children's bread. You get the puppy dog blessing that comes from being at the right place at the right time because you are not joined into the connectivity that produces a real blessing of God in your life. And you're getting getting older and running out of time and running out of excuses and running out of people to blame. Wonder what would have happened in school if you had been committed, wonder what would have happened in your marriage if you had been committed, wonder what would have happened in church if you had really thrown your whole self...you've always been casual and never been committed. 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 their commitment and because you are talented enough to be able to float by on broken pieces, you will fool an indiscriminate eye into thinking you are committed. You are not committed, you're just talented. You will never know what you could have been if you would have really committed yourself, you're just talented enough to get over and you faked them out and you've been on thirty or sixty fold when you were created to be a hundred fold person."

"Your life is a false advertisement, full of color big glossy ad, promise and product you don't carry in your inventory. You will be shocked how many people sitting out there who could really sing (he meant in the choir) but they're 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 won't do for God what they are asking God to do for them and they wonder why their prayers are not answered. With all due respect, our best singers are not up here (he pointed to the Potter's House Choir), our most commited singers are up here but there are some talented people sitting in the pew who could sing you into a fit but they never focus on anything and they got the nerve to be praying for their career to go somewhere.  They are trying to bring the giant down without the commitment...Your whole life is a facade, 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."

"I've seen people who have more degrees than a thermometer and couldn't get a job working anywhere or doing anything, couldn't stabilize anywhere, they know how to do everything but they can't do it, they've got the information but they don't have the commitment and the character and the tenacity to be an asset.  I'd rather hire somebody who has less knowledge and more guts and stamina.  In a perfect world, I want someone who has both but if I've got to choose, I'd rather have someone with commitment 'cause if you are committed, you can go back to school..You want the benefits but you don't want none of the responsibilities."

"You are not better than you are because you have not thrown your whole self in your life and you think greatness goes on sale; but true quality doesn't go on sale. The only thing that goes on sale is the cheap stuff. The real, high quality stuff, it costs what it costs, they're not trying to get someone average to buy it. You've got to have a certain amount of money or you don't acquire great stuff.  Greatness costs what it costs."

"It's wrong for you to think you're going to give an offering and God is going to bless a business you're not committed to, to bless you in a marriage you're not committed to, to bless you in school and you don't study, bless you like a saint of God when you won't walk like a saint of God.  Who do you think God is? Somebody playing in Vegas?"

This message hit me because I'm recovering from what I call the superted syndrome in certain areas of my life.  I'll explain the superted syndrome. Back in the day, in Nigeria, there was a cartoon my siblings and I watched called Superted. There was an intro to every episode where a man said "This is the story of an ordinary teddy bear, when he was made, they found something wrong with him and threw him away like a piece of rubbish into an old dark storeroom then from out of space, a spotty man brought him to life with his cosmic dust, he took him to a magic cloud where mother nature gave him special powers. That bear became SUPERTED!" Superted was an ordinary teddy bear that did nothing and accomplished nothing till someone rescued him. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that there are certain areas of my life that need work but in the past, I've just hoped that someone would come rescue me or I'd get lucky and live the life that I've always wanted. Nope! No one rescued me, no spotty man, no mother nature, I remained as I was. I wasn't as fortunate as superted (who sat in a pile of rubblish in a dark storeroom waiting to be rescued).  I realized I had to get up and do things myself.  I don't think I've fully recovered, that's why this message hit me the way it did, but I'm making progress and I will get there, God willing.