Learn To Keep Your Promises

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.  Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

We all have heard the saying that “talk is cheap”, today Solomon reminds us that to renege on your word is the biggest sin you can commit! Every day you make a promise, if you are going to work (your boss expects you to come in on time), if you are attending a class you are expected to be there promptly, and these are unwritten promises that one vows when you accept the task that is put before you… Solomon teaches us today that we must honor our word and commitments, too often people say things that they can’t live up to and eventually place themselves in harm’s way for failure and eventually leave someone else disappointed! Think about how you felt when someone wronged you by not keeping the promise or vow that they made! You feel betrayed, you feel deceived, and let down. When it is all said in done, the only thing that a man really has in this life is his word, when that is removed so is he…. Now that we understand the importance of vows, we can surely understand why Solomon tells us that God takes no pleasure in a fool… God desires your best; He doesn’t want to hear excuses and will not be bogged down by them. 

Your commitments to Him will be called into account and you will have to answer to them in your day of judgment! God spoke this world into existence; He breathed the breath of life into our lungs and formed us in His image… All power resides within His hands and all things are maintained because of His goodness… Understanding this lets me know the importance of keeping vows to the Lord if we decide to make them… God knows the future and can allow anything to happen as He ordains… Think about where we would be if Jesus got on the cross, but decided not to die, think about where we would be if God saw His son in anguish and decided to pull the life-line away from us! Broken promises can end lives and destroy dreams literally; they can scar people and cause a lot of negative thoughts to be formed about the character of individuals… So remember to keep your word (especially to God)!  

ALL FOR HIS GLORY!