Bound and Determined

by Gary Henry
via WordPoints.com

"When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord" (Acts 11:23).

Barnabas knew it was not enough for the new Christians in Antioch to have obeyed the gospel. They would need to continue obeying it — and so he wisely urged them “that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.”

One of my mother’s many colorful expressions was “bound and determined.” It meant that a person was so intent on doing something, they could not be deterred: “I told you not to do that, but you’re just bound and determined to go ahead and do it anyway.”

Let’s think about these two words as descriptive of the perseverance required to “continue with the Lord.”

Bound

When we have made a commitment, as we did when we were baptized into Christ, we need to be bound by it. Pain and difficulties will not defeat us if we’re held by the promise we made.

Determined

Not even our most serious commitments will be carried out if we don’t decide to honor them. As we walk in Christ, it helps to remind ourselves daily of our confession of faith and to remake our promises to Him with renewed determination.

When Paul was making his way to Jerusalem for what turned out to be his last time, his brethren tried to talk him out of going, knowing the dangers that awaited him there. But he knew he needed to go, and he would not change his mind. Luke wrote, “So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, ‘The will of the Lord be done’” (Acts 21:14). Most of us would do well to emulate Paul’s doggedness in following his conscience.

Like many other character traits, determination is good only if its objective is good. If the thing a person is determined to do is evil, or even inexpedient, then the unwillingness of that person to change his mind is not something we would praise him for. But when the objective is good, determination is wonderful — and it’s as powerful as it is wonderful.

No matter the obstacles, if a person is “bound and determined” to reach his goal, he is likely to overcome them. In Christ, our object is heaven, the very best of all goals. May we be so determined to get there — and so open to every help the Lord will give us — the devil will be stunningly defeated.

"Will is power" (German Proverb).