Are You a Man of Your Word?
promise keeper or broken promises…
'If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth. ' Deuteronomy 23:21-23
pretty sure you’ve all heard of: don’t make a promise you can’t keep. here are others that resonate with me too:
The man who promises everything is sure to fulfil nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises, and is already on the road to perdition.
It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.
when we were kids, i remember when we were told by our parents, aunties, uncles, teachers, pretty much all the elders that a promise is a promise. that your word should mean something and that you need to stand by what you say are going to do or not do.
i try not to be jaded while thinking about today’s world where we have people who don’t honor what they say - kids and adults. making a vow, a pledge just to appease or win you over, but they never follow through on it because that was not their intent to begin with.
in these verses, either you do what you say or you will be guilty of sin. it does reference that it is better not to say you will and let it be, or you have to because those words came out of your mouth. as in life change program - “me and my big mouth” is a great chapter with a reminder of watching what you say.
i’ve worked pretty hard on this area of my life. i feel that i am responsible and reliable and that when i say i’m going to do something it’ll be done. there are times i have to work on saying ‘NO’ because of time and other commitments and not just to please this or that person because they needed my help. placing margin in my life is a key step in being able to be trustworthy and honorable too.
dear Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me in this area of making promises. in the past i only asked in order to get. “i promise” if you do this for me then i’ll do that in return - so tired of my past “if/then” statements. may my word be solid and true. that if i say i will do something then it will be done. as you hear it come out of my mouth, may i be held to it Lord. want to bring you glory and honor with how and what i say in my commitments. in Jesus’ name i pray, amen!