Oh, I Really Meant To Do That, Honestly!
OH, I REALLY MEANT TO DO THAT, HONESTLY!
But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth” (Numbers 32:23-24 New King James Version).
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 says “When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed- better to not vow than to vow and not pay.” Many people today make promises and vows with no intention of ever keeping them. Promises can be anything…such as promising to take your child somewhere, promising to help a friend with something, promising to do something for someone else at work, or volunteering to help in a ministry. As children of God, anything we promise we need to back up; and anything we promise to someone else is also a promise to God, for in His word we are commanded to do all we do heartily and as to the Lord and not to men (Colossians 3:23). Sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances which unavoidably keep us from meeting a promise. In which case, we must make every attempt to let the other person know as far in advance as possible and try to remain faithful to your promise, maybe by a different route.
Jesus said to let our yes be yes and our no be no (Matthew 5:37). Consistently not keeping our word hurts the feelings of others, causing them to view us as unreliable, and it also saddens our Heavenly Father. When we break a promise, or make a promise we have no intention of keeping, we run the risk of having abundant blessings and God ordained responsibilities pass over because we are not faithful with the small things. The integrity of the Christian is a powerful witness to the lost, and we need to pay special attention to our integrity. If we have a family member, co-worker or friend who does not know the Lord, we are not a good witness if we never keep our word – either to them or to others they also deal with. They will view us as a hypocrite and want nothing to do with “our Christianity” because they find us to be untrustworthy.
We serve a merciful God, One who desires us to grow and learn and become more faithful and trustworthy. He desires that we keep our word; pay our vows. His word is full of direction and wisdom, and He places role models and mentors in our paths, if we so desire. If we find we have struggled with keeping our word, we should repent, ask for forgiveness and ask God to teach us how to be a promise keeper. He is the best teacher, for He Himself is faithful.
Let’s Pray: Dear Merciful Father, thank You for this day. Thank You for another opportunity to bear witness to Your goodness, Your faithfulness, Your love and Your grace. Thank You for opening our eyes and hearts to Your voice and Your wisdom. Forgive us for not keeping our word, it is so easy in this world to fall off the path of righteousness with one broken promise, we don’t want to stray and become hypocrites. Father, teach us how to be faithful as You are faithful. Teach us how to make our yes a true yes and our no a true no. Place people in our paths who are examples to us of Your character, grant us teachable spirits, open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to the hurt we cause others when we don’t keep our word, when we have been labeled a hypocrite by our actions, reveal to us our secret sins of being untrustworthy. We thank You that You love us enough to discipline us and guide us back to the correct path. We give You all glory and honor. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Today’s Attitude of Worship: Keep your word. Be a person of integrity. If you struggle with keeping your word, ask the Lord to begin to help you. If you find you say yes to things you’d rather say no to, practice simply saying no.
Additional Scriptures: Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Psalm 50:14; Psalm 76:11
“Oh, young man, character is worth more than money, character is worth more than anything else in this wide world.” D L Moody
Shalom,
Prudence