Crowd | Called | Committed 

Beautiful People,

At the start of Christ’s ministry, three groups gravitated towards His message; the crowd, the called, and the committed. These three groups have helped me understand Christian maturity. The crowd represents the Christian experience that is flamboyant and superficial. If we follow the crowd in the four Gospels, they were swayed by popular opinion and dependent on miraculous signs. Crowd Christianity is dangerous because, on one day, you can be praising Jesus, and the next day, crying for His crucifixion. Now, out of the crowd, Christ invited the called into a deeper relationship.

The called leave a superficial faith and builds on the character of Christ. The called have untapped potential. They are the rich young rulers, the 72 disciples, and the Judases. Christ called the rich young ruler to leave his riches for riches above with compassion and grace. With compassion and truth, Christ called the 72 disciples to accept His teaching that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:54). With compassion and love, Christ called Judas to repentance (Desire of Ages pg. 76). When offended or challenged to change the direction of their hearts, the called walked away from Christ. What was left were the committed. 

The committed are rooted in a love-obedience relationship with Christ. Their love for Christ compels them to wholehearted obedience. The cry of their heart is, “not my will but Your will.” The committed understand that Christ has the words of eternal life (John 6:68) and to live without Christ means certain death. The committed have allowed the Holy Spirit to mature their faith—faith that is built on the faithfulness of Christ. The committed, like a healthy marriage, recommit to Christ daily. Paul best summarizes the committed by saying, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us out of the crowd to a committed relationship. I pray that we grow into a deeper and richer commitment with Christ simply because of the beauty of His character and His eternal love for us.