In the Esplanade: Incomplete Commitment

All of the fun is inside!

The Esplanade is that area between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. When you’re there, you’ve parked and made it through the bag/security check. When you make it this far you get to enjoy some of the fun of being at Disneyland.

• There’s area music playing.
• The monorail passes overhead.
• You can see the Disneyland Railroad trains as they stop at the Main Street station.
• You may get to hear the Disneyland Band playing or see characters greeting guests.
• If you go right up to the gates, you may even be able to take some unobstructed pictures.

Now, imagine that this is all you did. Would anyone call a day spent like this “going to Disneyland”? Sure you got to see and hear some of it, but all from outside the gates, and missing out on a lot! Even though you paid a price (parking, at the very least) just being in the Esplanade isn’t “going to Disneyland”.

And yet somehow many of us are content with this much of Jesus Christ. We get close enough to hear the music and catch a glimpse, but never actually make the commitment. We may say we do, but do our actions match our words? We say we believe. We go to church. We may pray before meals. But how much of a difference do we see in our lives, our character, our families, our community?

Think about the ways our life in Christ should be characterized are described:

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11) – Not just part of the armor, not just what you think you need at the moment, the full armor.

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27) – The Greek word for “baptism” is “baptizo” and literally means to immerse or plunge. These verses describe a complete submersion into Christ and being completely covered with Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) – Paul’s entire identity was found in Christ, to the point where he could say that the life he lived was Christ living in him.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.” (Romans 6:8) – Commitment does get much stronger than death!

“Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his lifewill lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35) – Strong words from Jesus. Again, commitment doesn’t get much more complete than this.

Is this what your commitment to Christ, your daily Christian life, looks like? Mine doesn’t—certainly not as much as I want it to. But where I am is more fully committed to Him than where I used to be, and where I will be is more than where I am now. That’s part of grace, and of “growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus”.

I would never claim that hanging out in the Esplanade was the same was going to Disneyland, but some days I’m content with a casual commitment to following Jesus. If you’re the same, there is hope. We can grow. We’re commanded to grow. And “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” It’s not about earning favor; it’s seeking His best for us—which is only found in Him.

Question: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the level of commitment you have to Jesus Christ? How can you increase that number? Talk about it in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.