Who Keeps His/Her Promises Anymore?
Focus on Attention: … conveying appropriate interest, caring for another’s interests, entering their world.
I know some people who work really hard at keeping their promises. My guess is that you do too. My Dad and Mom worked hard for more than 40 years keeping their promises to each other. Dad worked hard. Dad stayed. Dad led by example. He kept his promises to Mom. And she kept hers to him. She remained faithful to him every day. Dad died at 67, but I knew him long enough to know he was a man of his word. For many years when I would go back to my hometown in Kentucky, men would see me, recognize me as Shorty Lewis’s son and say something like this, “Are you Shorty Lewis’s boy? He was one of the finest men I ever knew.” Can you imagine? My dad’s identity and his legacy included his honesty. He was a man of his word.
Jesus Christ, my Lord, keeps His word too. Jesus told His disciples that He would “never leave us or forsake us”. He said He’d leave us another comforter. We know Him. This comforter is the Holy Spirit of God, Who takes residence in each life when the Gospel is believed and Jesus received. (John 14:16-20, I Corinthians 6:19-20) Jesus meets our need for attention by keeping His Word and living within. He “enters our world”!
Read this in Hebrews 13:5-6-
5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,
“I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you.”
6 So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper,
so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?”
He, God, comes to us. He enters our world. He promises that we will enter His eternal kingdom as a result of this new birth within us. John 14:1-6 makes that clear.
But not everyone keeps his promises!
But the Enemy-Satan lies, deceives, and ruins hope and trust in the process. I will try not to get angry while typing the rest of this 52 Week Plan, but I see the destruction he has thrust upon the world. He makes us think that the way of the culture is better than the ways of God. He leads us to believe via media, friends, “heroes”, and other influential means that sin is fun forever, that sex before marriage is fine, that there are no consequences to abusing alcohol or drugs -legal or illegal, that marriage is passe’ and should be relegated to the uncool. He leads us to believe that none of these conclusions, habits, or choices have any negative ramifications at all. He is a liar, and we know it. Don’t we?
I am hear to tell you that he is a liar. I am quoting Jesus speaking to so-called religious leaders about the Devil here, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
This 52 Week Plan shouldn’t be complicated. If you want to follow the One Who makes promises and keeps them, then follow Jesus. Be imitators of Him. Ephesians 5:1 – Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Imitate the one Who keeps His Word. He even gave His life to keep it. He promised to lay down His life for us. He did. Honor Him by trusting Him for forgiveness and eternal life, then follow Him every day.
Keeping our promises, the good ones that benefit others and show God’s love, will have a similar impact on those who come behind us, as my Dad’s legacy has had on me and my family. He kept his word. I am trying to do the same.