Daily Devotions
Keeping Promises
Reading for October 9th: Matthew 23-24
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'"
Matthew 23:16
Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright, said, "It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath." Our credibility is tied to our character.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for thinking in terms of binding and non-binding oaths. They categorized promises into "big" and "little" ones. But a promise is a promise, and God expects us to keep our word.
When we promise to do something we need to do it. When we make an appointment we need to keep it. When we tell someone we'll help them we need to follow through.
But we don't follow through. We don't do what we've promised. We break appointments. And we justify our dishonesty with lame excuses:
- "I'm just so disorganized."
- "I had a thousand other things to do."
- "I really meant to do that."
- "I'm so forgetful."
There may be truth to all of those statements, yet these attempts at rationalization is a reflection of our character. A willingness to excuse ourselves like this is a dangerous sign. Thinking in this way is a sure sign that we've conditioned ourselves to dishonesty.
What we should say is, "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? How do I make it up to you?" Then we must resolve to work on being more careful to do what we say we're going to do, letting our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no."
Lord, forgive us for being dishonest. We want to love you and to love others with more than word or talk. We want to love in deed and in truth. Help us to keep our word.
