Genesis 46:1
And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
Effort and commitment are two of the greatest contributors to determining what God can and will do through your life. Those whose effort is minimal or halfway never do much for God because your effort determines your commitment. Moreover, if you are not committed to what you are doing for God, you can’t expect God to do much through your life. Those whom God has used the most in life gave all their effort to what they did for Him, and they were committed to serving the LORD. This does not mean that they didn’t have times when their commitment or effort was not what they should have been; it simply means that, as a whole, their effort and commitment were all in.
It says about Israel in the verse above that he took his journey with all that he had. In other words, Jacob went to see his son with all of his effort, all of his possessions, and all of his family. There was nothing left in Israel when he chose to move to Egypt to spend the rest of his life with his son Joseph. If you are going to be used by God, your effort and commitment will have to be with all that you have. Let me share a few observations about the importance of effort and commitment.
First, your effort will affect your commitment. Your effort actually reveals your commitment to the LORD. If you are committed to what you are doing, you will give your whole effort to see the cause of your commitment to happen. This is why God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, because to love Him with all of these shows our commitment and effort for His cause.
Second, you cannot give a half-effort and expect winning results. You show me the person who gives all of their energy to serving the LORD, and I will show you a person who is winning for the cause of Christ. It is sad when we give more effort to worldly causes than we do to the cause of Christ. For instance, you cannot expect God to bless your Sunday school class when you only give an hour or so to visiting it, but you give many hours a week to see your business grow. You cannot give a half-effort for God and expect what you are doing for Him to grow. Preacher, if you want your church to grow, you are going to have to give your whole effort to the church. You show me what you give your most effort to, and I will show you where your heart is placed.
Third, your effort and commitment to what you are doing for God will determine your quitting point. Those who easily quit are those who are not committed to the cause of Christ, and neither do they give their whole effort to this cause. Your commitment affects your effort; therefore, if you are not committed to the cause of Christ, you will quickly quit when it requires more effort than you are willing to give. If you are not willing to give all that you have for the cause of Christ, you will throw in the towel when the cause of Christ demands your all.
Fourth, your effort and commitment to the cause of Christ determines how much God can do through you. It is those who do everything for God with all that they have that He chooses to do the most works through. If you want God to use you greatly, you are going to have to give all of your effort and be totally committed to doing something for God.
