No one but a fool would consider leaping a chasm in two jumps. Here is either complete commitment or total failure.

The same is true of Christianity.

Too many of us are like the little boy who cut off his puppy’s tail an inch at a time for fear of causing the dog undue pain by lopping off the whole thing at once. Our lives are lived in partial surrender. We seem content to stop with the verse of the song promising “some of self and some of Thee.” And we’re ever searching for the elusive answer to what we consider to be life’s single most important question: “What is the least I can do and still make it to heaven?”

We should know better. We should recognize this anemic attitude of halfhearted Christianity as running counter to what our Lord clearly demands: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall find it.” (Luke 9:23,24.)

Jesus is not in the market for part-time help; He seeks full-time committed disciples.

The apostle Paul gladly answered the Lord’s call to commitment. He counted all things as loss that he might win Christ. (Philippians 3:7,8.) He considered himself “crucified with Christ.” (Galatians 2:20.) He counted not his very life as dear unto himself. (Acts 20:24.) And he finally offered himself as a martyred sacrifice. (2 Timothy 4:6,7)

Paul was determined to live a “none-of-self-and-all-of-Thee” life.

Are we?