Keeping Our Word part 2
Category: Faithblogs
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Hi and welcome to part two of the Keeping Our Word series of Faithblog’s. Today I want us to consider keeping our word even when we regret giving it.
There are times in life when we say one thing, maybe on the spur of the moment, but then when we get to thinking about it we’re not to keen on doing it. Or maybe we regret giving our word because things didn’t turn out the way we had hoped. Maybe we gave your word to do something because we thought we’d get something in return, such as money, favors, popularity, or position, but then when we find that there is no reward at the end of the day we begin to wonder if it’s really all worth it.
Sometimes people regret giving their word because it ended up costing them more than they expected, but listen to what the Pslamist writes, a righteous person is one “who keeps their oath even when it hurts.” Maybe things have not turned out the way you had hoped, and you wonder if it’s worth continuing.
The brilliant Christian scholar and writer, C. S. Lewis, took keeping his word very seriously. His biography tells of the suffering he endured because he kept a promise he had made to a friend during World War I. This friend was worried about the care of his wife and small daughter if he should be killed in battle, so Lewis assured him that if that were to happen he would look after them. As the war dragged on, the man was killed. True to his word, Lewis took care of his friend’s family. Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, Lewis kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to go back on on his word.
You know I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus follows His teaching on divorce in Matthew 5 with the challenge to keep our word, our yes’ and no’s. Think about divorce… We seem to have a problem with that in our nation. We promise to love, honor, and cherish in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, until death. Yet, almost 50% of all marriages in North America end in divorce – and don’t be fooled into thinking that Christian marriages fare any better percentage wise.
What Jesus is saying is that we shouldn’t take the easy way out in any situation. Sometimes keeping our word is tough going, but we need to do whatever it takes to let our yes be yes and no, no.
Another problem is that we have trouble keeping our word to Jesus. We stand in front of a group of people and proclaim: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and I accept Him as my Lord and Savior. He died for me I will live for him.” But how many of us have let other things get in the way of fellowship with the Body of Christ, and I’m not just talking about Sunday mornings, but study groups, prayer meetings, church family dinners, and so on. How many of us have put watching TV or going to the movies above studying the word of God. How about when going out for coffee with friends, becomes more important than spending time in prayer. And what about when our business becomes more important than God’s business
Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr Seuss tells the story of an elephant, named Horton, who promises to sit on an egg and hatch it for it’s mother, lazy Miss Mayzie. As the days and weeks go by, Horton just keeps sitting there on that nest up in a tree. All his friends encourage him to forget his promise and play with them; and his response to them? “I meant what I said, I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful, one hundred percent.”
Here’s a thought… What could God do with a church that had that kind of commitment?
Join me next time as I conclude this short series on keeping our word.
Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
December, 2008
Picture by Julia Freeman-Woolpert
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