PROMISE-KEEPERS AND PROMISE-KILLERS

Whether you keep your promises or kill your promises – is based on who you make your biggest promises to – and who the beneficiary of your promise policy is. Who is it? Is it you – or is it God and others?
I promise to make life convenient! (you… or others)
I promise to always shop for the best deal! (you… or others)
I promise to never do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable (you… or others)
I promise that you will always come first (you… or others)
Have you ever thought about making your marriage promises – to God, and what that would mean for you and for Him? He’s promised Himself unconditionally to you… shouldn’t love and promises go both ways?

MARRIAGE VOWS

The Biggest, Best, Costliest Promise You’ll Ever Make… or Break
There’s a reason why Jesus took such a tough stand on marriage vows. Keeping them – even when it’s hard pays off huge dividends.  Breaking them – ignoring them, carries an ongoing price tag you may never pay off. Marriage vows are very serious. Like any major promise – you have do due diligence – that is, really know who you’re making your promises to. Know yourself and decide if you can pay for it – and make plans in your ‘budget’ to do that. This is never based on how you feel when you’re ‘in love’ – cause you’re on love drugs! Keeping the promises you make will take thoughtfulness, the power of God – and the best you can give. But the returns are amazing! It will be the best gift you give to yourself, your spouse, and your legacy!

IF YOUR PROMISE WAS A PLANE…?

Here’s the question we all have to ask ourselves: Based on your track record, would you trust you? If your promise was a plane, would you fly in it to Australia or the Philippines – or even to North Bay? We trust that the airline industry will maintain their planes – replace broken stuff, check out their pilots – and do all the stuff necessary to get us safely where we need to go. But there are times, as Jesus made clear, when we make promises and then spend our lives looking for loopholes when our promises get inconvenient.
If you want to live with character and integrity… if you want people to believe what you have to say, if you want to have good, trustworthy friends, if you want to finish well – and leave goodness and love behind you, if you want to look forward in eternity to the reward for faithfulness, truthfulness, and self-control, then the trustworthiness of your word is your credit check.

THE FOUNDATION: The Basis for All Promises

If there is no God, if we all just climbed off a pond and out-lived the other germs, if there is no center line down the highway – and morality is “enlightened self-interest”, then promises and vows don’t really matter. But if there is a PROMISEKEEPER behind it all – and if we are made in His image, then our promises and vows really matter. If we depend on the fact that airlines keep the promises they make to the FAA and food manufacturers and drug manufacturers keep promises they make to the FDA and insurance companies and banks keep their promises to pay for damage and safeguard our money – then we need to honour the promises we make to those who depend on us! The cost of not doing that – is our credibility. Our character.  We team up with the dark side of eternity; the LIAR!