"I didn't abandon ship, I tripped and fell into a lifeboat"

How often do we here of people breaking commitments and giving "reasons" to excuse their behavior. This "I fell into a lifeboat" excuse, as given by the now infamous Captain of the cruise ship grounded off Italy, sounds more outrageous than most, but doesn't the last step, falling off the ship of commitment, start long before a relationship hits a reef?

If we are honest, we have all probably broken commitments for selfish reasons, we hit the reef, we got scared and we bailed out, I mean “tripped”! Whether a marriage, church or other commitments, we are usually either actively committed to the relationship and seeking to do our part according to God's word or if it is really all about us, when things get rough enough we will find some reason to go. Our reason may sound more plausible than the one the captain of the Costa Concordia gave, but as good as our excuse might sound, it is unlikely God is the one guiding us to break commitments. In fact, faithfulness is included in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), so when it gets too hard for us, the Holy Spirit is able to take us further than we ever could go on our own!

An active, wholehearted commitment to fulfill whatever promises we make, according to God’s word and in His power, is the best way to avoid one day having to claim - we just slipped and fell out of our marriage, church or other commitments!