Making the Leap of Faith: Committing Yourself to Something Good
Type of Event: Worship Service: Sermon only
Date Recorded: 16 Jul, 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA 
Topics: Faith
Description: "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 4:29)
Living the life of religion requires us to make commitments. Before we are regenerated and motivated by good, we must do what is true and right even when we don't want to. Committing ourselves to doing what the Lord commands is the essence of the life of religion. The hells, then, will do whatever they can to prevent and subvert al your attempts to make and keep commitments. First, the hells will try to convince you to make half-commitments, to hedge your bets against disappointment and failure. But like Moses told the Israelites, we cannot find the Lord if our attempts are half-hearted. Moving away from the depression of evil towards the happiness of good requires a whole-hearted commitment to learning and doing the Lord's will. Just making the commitment is often enough to quiet the hells...for a bit.
The hells will next try to convince you that the commitment you made was foolish or pointless because it cannot result in anything good. When the Lord told Simon to "let down your nets for a catch", Simon complained of the pointlessness and futility because they'd been fishing for a long time and caught nothing. But Simon is committed to serving the Lord. He lets down the nets and he and his companions catch more fish than the boat can carry. They then left everything behind and followed the Lord. We do not need to avoid commitment; these lessons will help us stay committed in the face of hellish attacks.
Readings: Deuteronomy 4:25-31; Luke 5:1-11; Arcana Caelestia 4353.
Archived at http://www.PittsburghNewChurch.org/
References: Deut. 4:25-31; Luke 5:1-11; AC 4353.
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1Making the Leap of Faith (Amos Glenn, Pittsburgh) - Deu 4:29 (Jul 16, 2006)22m 2s
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