“Whatever Happened to Commitment” – Perry Cotham
Monday morning I got to experience something that will in all likelihood be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Monday morning I got to hear a 100-year-old man preach the gospel. Perry Cotham has for years been the standard-bearer for longevity in ministry among churches of Christ and continues to do so now as a centenarian. In those 100 years brother Cotham has preached the gospel for 82. And it wasn’t until 10 years or so ago that he stopped traveling overseas alone to engage in evangelistic campaigns abroad.
However, it was Monday morning that brother Cotham was scheduled to speak at the Memphis School of Preaching lectureship on the topic: “Whatever Happened to Commitment?” At 9:00 he was wheeled on the floor level behind a microphone and with a voice weakened by age but a resolve strengthened by time he offered these words of advice: “Commit to what is right and do what is right.” That’s it. If you were looking for something profound and complicated you might be disappointed. However there were 400-500 people assembled in that auditorium who had the privilege to hear him say those words with his own mouth who definitely were not. Those ten words are as simple and concise as they come, but coming from a man who has been preaching since the beginning of the Great Depression and has seen, experienced, and endured more than many of us can imagine they meant a lot.
Sometimes I might get discouraged. Sometimes I might feel that the burden is too great. Sometimes I might feel the work is too much. But I guarantee from now until the day that I die anytime I start feeling as though the task of preaching is simply too difficult I will hear a small, high-pitched voice ringing in my ears crying out, “Commit to what is right and do what is right!”
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).