Daily devotion – keeping your promise
Ecclesiastes 5:5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.
How good is your word? Do you keep promises that you make?
The Teacher of Ecclesiastes warned us about two sins. The first was making a vow with no intention of keeping it, in other words lying to God.
The second sin was making the vow but delaying in keeping it, hoping you could get out of it. People make empty vows because they live in a religious dream; they think that words are the same as deeds.
Their worship is not serious, so their words are not dependable. They practice a make-believe religion that neither glorifies God nor builds Christian character.
My first Pastor, Pastor Thomas Whitaker, taught me a great deal about keeping my word. If I had said that I was going to do something and I did not fulfil what I had said, he called such behaviour, lying! It was a lesson well learned.
Pastor Thom also taught me something I have never forgotten in relation to being a father. He said that if I ever made a promise to our children, I must, no matter what, ensure I keep it. Such action would demonstrate to our children to trust in our word, and as a direct flow on, they would be sure to be able to trust in God’s Word.
I owe so much to him and his patience and truthful instruction to me that has kept me on God’s path of obedience since.
I had promised the children one time that we would attend the Perth Zoo. The day arrived and so did rain and terrible inclement weather. The rain simply never stopped the whole time we were at the zoo.
The children to this day often recall that day! How we were nearly the only ones at the zoo. How we dressed in our rain jackets, had this special day at the zoo together. Each time they speak of that time there is a little reminder to me of Pastor Whitaker’s wise words.
“If you make a promise to your children, you better keep it!”
God always keeps His Word to His children!