The power of a promise makes the body possible:
We can have a functional body only if people within it are able to keep the thread of their identity in Christ through their promises- God never breaks his promises to His people, and we are to do like wise. A person, in the long run, gets this identity from the promises he makes because they are based in the character of Jesus. We know someone as the same person today that he or she was yesterday by the promises that person made yesterday and keeps today.
Some people ask themselves “who am I” and expect their feelings to tell them. Feelings are dancing flames that fade after being stimulated and some people ask who they are and expect their achievements to tell them. But the things we accomplish always leave some of our character unrevealed. Some people ask who they are and expect their human reasoning to tell them of their ideal self. But our human reasoning can only tell us what we want to be, not who we are.
Maybe we can best find out who and what we are by asking about the promises we have made to other people and the promises we are trying to keep for their sakes. Promise keeping allows us to function in the realm of Christ, to actually walk out some kind of dimension of the attributes of God.
It is not only that we know ourselves in the mirror of our promises. If Gods people, the ones who belong to Him, who depend on Him, also know Him by the promises He has made and what He promised is what we need to be apart of; only if we really know who He is can we live with Him in trust. We need to know Him in the deepest way, not by reading self-help books, but by knowing His power to keep promises and in the power of His Blood.
On a certain level our lives together depends on the power of people to make and keep promises. On a single string—of a person bound to his promise—hangs everything from nuclear disarmament to a family reunion, from a successful revolution to a return ticket to Tacoma to a savior to reconcile God and his people.
Marty Lee Herrick
martyh@trm.org
Prov. 27:17
There is so much roome for thought and meditation in this one marty thanks for always incuraging me to go into deep thought and instiling the desire to be a better christen
Making a promise, first, to God, is a perfect motivation for ourselves, to be the person God wants us to be.. It worked for me… I said “God I’m so sorry for my sins… I “promise” to repent and be the person You created me to be… amen .
The lord know how many promises I have made to him, my family, my children. How many times I have lied to these, for why I chose not to follow thru with my promises. Me.
People had stopped depending on my word, and lost respect for me through my selfish desires I put befor a commitment I had made to them all.Will they ever accept a promise to be of value from me, they dont even want to hear “I Promise” these days.
When i make amends with all I hope for their grace and can only follow thru with my word, it never really was’nt that hard to begin with, just me.My “Stinking Thinking”,right Marty.Thanks for this moment to reflect…..
We have all broken promises before.. But that was before, now i must do everything i can and be faithfull.. not only to myself or to my family or friends but to god.. He is good.. not some times or most of the time but all the time.. like you said marty God always keeps his promises. So iwe all must strive to do the same.