Into Your Hand I Commit

This is the last saying of Jesus on the cross. And it’s a perfect way of summarizing Jesus’ life (which really shouldn’t surprise us — this is Jesus we’re talking about, after all, so His last words will be perfect).

• And that’s what He does. As His life is slipping away, He’s able to put it so perfectly. What His life was all about — and what we should be striving for as we walk on the Way on the Cross.
• “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” It’s not just Jesus saying, “I’m ready to die now.” It’s Jesus encapsulating His entire life — as I have served you with purpose and focus and intention my whole life, I’m doing that again here at the very end.

How intentionally do we really live? Are we really taking the long view with life, and maintaining a focus, a consistent direction? Or, are we just kind of wandering around, trying to just make it through today?

What’s the solution to this apathy? Solomon says at the end of Ecclesiastes, the other thing that really has meaning is to “fear God and keep His commandments.”

• In other words, make a commitment — commit your life to God’s hands.
• The word here for “commit” is a word used for placing an offering on an altar. It’s like what Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, that we would strive to be “living sacrifices” for God, holy and pleasing to Him.

But if we want our lives to have meaning, that’s what we have to do: we have to follow Jesus.

But coming to that level of commitment is difficult — because it involves having at least some kind of sense of what you think God is leading you to do.

• What are we supposed to do? Pray, and forgive, and meet needs, and show hospitality, and rest. It may not get any more uniquely specific for you than that, but He’s told you enough in His Word to keep you for the rest of your life.
• And making this level of commitment is not easy — nor really should it be. It should take time, it should take thought.

Take 8 hours - I know that’s a challenge — but isn’t the direction of your life worth it? Isn’t the One who sacrificed everything to give you a hope, a future, and a direction in life worth it? Take 8 hours to be alone with God — open up your life to Him, and ask Him this question, “what do you want me to do?” and listen for His voice — I don’t know how He’ll respond: maybe a Scripture will come to mind. Maybe a word someone had once said to you. Maybe with an inner conviction. Maybe an audible voice — I don’t know. But the One whose hands we put our lives in raised Jesus from the dead. And the same Spirit that did that is, according to Romans 8, at work in you — directing, guiding, leading.