LESSON 11

COMMITMENT

STEP 6
"We were entirely ready and willing to change and tor God to remove all these defects
of character."
Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, "lf anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

THINK ABOUT IT
Good habits establish our moral character. Thus, changing our habits means
remodeling our character and this process is not easy.
To change, we must do it conscientiously and continuously. Some of our defects of
character lie deeply hidden within that it is difficult to detect. A whole lot of them are
commonly practiced and accepted in the society.
We have all been deceived into living a lifestyle according to the will of the devil. Going
through the Glorious Hope program exposes us to these lies, and opens our minds to
the truth according to God’s word. However, these truths work onlv when we apply them
in our life. That is the idea of the word commitment – trusting God for the outcome of
our life even if it will involve us suffering.
In Step 6, being entirely ready and willing to change for God to remove all defects of
character means we are entrusting our life to God, and trusting that He knows what He
is doing.

A. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE READY AND WILLING?

We might have been raised in a difficult or even traumatic environment and, as a result,
we learned to develop patterns of behavior to defend and protect ourselves from our
unpleasant circumstances. This pattern can be an asset which is good and useful or a
defect, which is a weakness or a fault.
A person's character therefore is the sum of his disposition, thoughts, intentions,
desires, and actions. It is influenced and developed by our choices.
For our purposes, we will use the phrase “character defects” to refer to negative
patterns of behavior that we have developed to defend ourselves against our perceived
unpleasant environment in the past.
Step 6 of the 12 Steps allows us to discover that our problem is not primarily overwork,
uncontrolled anger, drugs or alcohol, inappropriate sex, divorce, homosexuality, or an
eating disorder. Even if we abstain from a substance or restrain ourselves from a certain
behavior, we will find our lives ruled by our depravity as manifested by the character
formed within us through the years. If not properly addressed, we will only substitute our
addiction and behavior with another substance and/or behavior that are acceptable to
our community even though it is wrong.
Letting go of these character detects can and will teel like a threat to our survival
because we have gotten so used to them. But it is important for us to have it removed
because it is contrary to what God wants.
This step is an ongoing process. It does not have to be done perfectly all at once – but it
must be done willingly, sincerely, and honestly. It involves our commitment. It means
getting hurt from having our comforts shaken. It requires trusting God to the fullest.

B. A COMMITMENT TO CHANGE
To follow Jesus is to follow everything about His life and His Word, and not just the ones
we fancy. And He was saying to them all, anyone Wishes to come after Ma L.
Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, "lf anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

1. Deny himself
To "come after" Jesus, we must learn to deny our self. It means divesting one’s self
from everything rooted in the old life.
 Repentance starts in the mind, where the decision is made, and then puts the
changes into practice.
The renewing starts at the thought level, denying and forsaking sinful thoughts
and attitudes, and replacing them with godly thoughts and attitudes as learned in
the Bible.
 Attitude is a mental state-the way you think and feel about someone or
something; it is how you perceive and interpret everything you observe, and how
you act accordingly.
 Everything starts with how you think and what you consider important. It is a
mindset that emerges in the form of a behavior in response to anything you
observe.
Attitude makes habit, habit makes character, and character makes a man.

2. Take up his cross daily

This step is more challenging because it has to do with suffering as you " take up your
cross daily. You might ask: "What is my cross?"
Jesus' agony and crucifixion was His cross, that was God's unique calling tor Him.
 Taking up the cross means to choose to do whatever God wills, as Jesus did.
We have been idolatrously attached to our detects of character as a way of surviving in
this world, such that giving by giving them up would definitely be difficult.
 Notice the word, "daily" in our passage.
Each day is a decision – you and I are to decide to do the will of God. Our faith will
always be tried and tested, and we will increasingly be pressured to compromise, to quit
following Jesus, to do the wrong thing, or return to our old self.
IT we avoid pain or protect ourselves from it, we will begin to die spiritually and
emotionally. However, when we give our Iives in service to Christ, we discover the real
purpose of living.

3. Follow Me
We can never find the strength to remove the defects of character, which was our
means of survival in the past, and decide daily to do God's will. By ourselves, we
cannot. But we have an invitation from Jesus: "... follow Me"
 Jesus does not invite us to a "by-rule" way of life. He invites us to personal
relationship.
A personal relationship means a personal, ongoing life discipleship toward gradual
transformation into the image of Christ. It happens through continual obedience in the
context of knowing and loving Him as our Lord and Savior, because He gave His life so
that we could live with Him, both now and in eternity.
The battle of transforming our character begins in transforming the mind and in an
ongoing daily battle of hardship. We can only persevere through our personal
relationship with Jesus because He has empowered us through God's Holy Spirit.
The metaphor of a heart transplant is one way of saying that the spiritual life is not
about the surface of things. It involves changes that go down to the core, to the
bedrock, to the foundation – our heart.
Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart
of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh...

The process will be a long one. The journey is a lifetime.

C. HOW DO WE APPLY THIS LESSON?

As children, we see our parents' reactions in their most unguarded moments. These
character elements are transmitted to us. We learn about ourselves and how our self-
esteem was nurtured. We also learn about others and how to have relationships. We
get our level of spirituality and attitudes toward education, money and health from this.
The family system also inspires our communication style, societal behavior and
domestic cooperation or competition.
These factors influence the character formed in us. Some of them might be good, these
are our assets; but some are bad, these are our defects.
Our part in this step is to identify our character defects, acknowledge our attachment to
them, and grieve at the possibility of losing them because the focus of this step is God's
ability to remove them.
Initially, the obvious character defects will be revealed but, since this step is an ongoing
process, we can expect that more will be discovered as we unlock one or two defects.
Since the process of removing all these defects can be uncomfortable, confusing, and
painful, our commitment will be put to a test.
We need to pray and ask God to help us to become entirely ready and willing to have all
our defects of character removed.
It would be a mistake to try to take readiness or willingness. It is unreasonable to expect
our self to be totally ready and willing at the beginning of this process. What is important
is to start wherever we are.