commitment phobia

As I set here on vacation in Florida, a few of the people who are here with us are watching the season premier of the bachelorette, which has to be one of the worst shows ever conceived; alright I can think of worse ones, but it's close! Now, I admit I have watched a Bachelor episode or two, and I have held my breath as that final rose was handed out, but as I hear this episode playing in the background I am just struck with how wrong the whole concept of the show is. Here's this lady who is basically trying out an endless line of guys, initially judging them on their surface attributes. Then as the show goes on she'll kiss this one, and this one will get a special weekend away with her, and everyone will cry at least once. Then in the end she will pick one of these guys that has turned out to be her "soul mate", hand him a rose, and give him a commitment to maybe someday possibly become engaged to him. Maybe.

I believe that this show illustrates the problem that our culture has with commitment incredibly well. Seemingly in everything we do, we have this fear or phobia of being too committed. We lease cars, we have tract phones, and we move in with the one we "love" instead of getting married to them, just in case. this phobia has even crept into our spiritual lives as well. We have this idea, or attitude that we just want to date Jesus. Nothing serious, just a promise here and there, maybe go to church every now and then but we want to keep our options open, just in case. However nothing could be further from what we are supposed to do, and what we are supposed to be.

Jesus tells us that unless you hate your father and mother, then you can't be a disciple of mine. Meaning that the relationship we have with Christ has to be so far above our most intimate relationships that they look like hate in comparison. Jesus isn't looking for a casual relationship, he is calling us to a deeper, all in commitment that makes everything else pale in comparison. The question is, are we willing to accept?