There are
so many reasons that you could have been late and thus broken your original
promise to your friend. You could apply
the above reasoning to whatever circumstances you choose, but the simple truth
is that you failed to keep your word. And
most of the time there is no major catastrophic consequences that result from
your failure to keep your promise other than a delay in plans and perhaps a strain
on your relationship with your friend.
But what if
the circumstances called for your promptness or response to a certain matter in
a specific way and your promise failed?
What if lives depended upon your fulfillment to the promise you
made? Consider this potential situation. You are a medical doctor and your patient
needs critical surgery to survive. Your
office has had them make an appointment for 1:00 in the afternoon and they have
shown up and have now been prepped for the surgery, while you have decided to
have an extended lunch with an old college friend that you haven’t seen for
years, thereby not showing up for the surgery!
You could
see how this could very easily create a life-threatening situation for your
patient. Your word should have meaning
behind it. The fulfillment of your
promises should tell people what kind of person you are. They should be able to trust what you tell
them and they can know that “your word is your bond!”
It is interesting
that Merriam-Webster defines the word promises as the following: “a declaration
that one will do or refrain from doing something specified or a legally binding
declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to
claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.”
What if you
had a friend whose word was always reliable?
This friend had made many promises and had not failed to keep them any
of them! Now imagine that this friend
tells you a promise of something in the future that is simply too amazing to
believe. What would you think about the
promise your friend had made? Would you
be willing to trust in your friend to fulfill this incredible thing that he had
promised?
It is
possible to have such a friend. The
Scriptures tell us at Joshua 23:14 when Joshua was nearing his death: “Now
look! I am about to die, and you well know with all your heart and with all
your soul that not one word out of all the good promises that Jehovah
your God has spoken to you has failed. They have all come true for you. Not
one word of them has failed.” King
Solomon also confirmed this powerfully bold statement: “Not one word of
all his good promise that he made through Moses his servant has failed.” (1
Kings 8:56)
Jesus came
to the Earth and gave his life as a ransom for many. By doing so we are told that he has become a
guarantee. Hebrews 7:22 states: “Jesus
has accordingly become the guarantee of a better covenant.” Why is this so important for us? “For no matter how many the promises of
God are, they have become “yes” by means of him.” (2 Co. 1:20)
This is
the friend that we can completely trust when promises are made. Even when those promises may seem
unbelievable or unattainable to us at the present. It also helps us to appreciate that of all
the things that God CAN do, there is one thing that God CANNOT
do! We have a bases of “the accurate
knowledge of the truth” and it “is based on a hope of the everlasting life that
God, who CANNOT LIE, promised long ago.” (Titus 1:1, 2)
We want to
be the kind of friend that others are able to trust. We want our promises, our word, to mean “yes”
when we say “yes.” But sadly, in this
world and under the present conditions what we want to do is not always what we
do! The unfortunate truth is that we’re
only human!
QUOTE TO CONSIDER
"What a wonderful man I would be,
if I could only keep all the promises I have made."
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