Acts 14:26

Commit is a verb. It means 1) to give in trust or charge; consign, 2) to consign for preservation, 3) to bind or obligate, 4) to entrust, especially for safekeeping.

After a yearlong missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to the church at Antioch.  Before they left on the journey, the church of Antioch had committed Paul and Barnabas.  They had given them a commission, bound them with an obligation, and entrusted them for safekeeping.  Contrary to what we might expect, the church did not commission them to missionary work.  They were not obligated to the work of the church.  Rather, the church of Antioch had given Paul and Barnabas the commission to live dependent upon and in the center of the grace of God.  The church was entrusting their safekeeping while on their journey to God’s grace.  Missionary work would not keep them in God’s grace; rather God’s grace would keep them in missionary work.

The church of Antioch had gotten it exactly right.  When Paul was stoned, missionary work did not give him the strength and courage he needed to return to the city.  His strength and his courage came from the grace of God.

Commitment to a job that we need to do is not bad, but commitment to the grace of God is better.  It is possible to experience burnout when the job is all that is keeping us going.  Nobody has ever experienced too much of God’s grace.  The job takes and then takes some more; God’s grace gives and then gives more.  The church still commits/commissions individuals for ministry.  Like the church of Antioch, we need to remember that the commission is to the grace of God for the work, and not the other way around.

The same is true for individuals.  When we accept a task in the church, to remain steadfast, we must get it right.  We commit to the grace of God, for his work.  When we entrust ourselves to Him, He entrusts his work to us.