Watch Out For Those Promises

By Jennifer Kearson 
 
Have you ever made a promise and ended up breaking it?  Too often many of us have good intentions yet something comes up at the last minute that causes us not to meet our expectations.

For example, imagine a good friend of yours wanting to help another friend in need.  She told her she would help by driving her to and from home to work.  After all she was asking God for some godly deeds to do and this opportunity came about.  This sounds like a great plan so far, right?  Anyway, her friend promised her she would pay for the trips.  When it came to paying for the trips, she didn’t have it, or it would be only half.  Over time it seemed to become one excuse after another.  Well, things went even worse when other people got involved by telling her to hand over the money.  Eventually, the ladies were able to resolve it, but it could have been prevented if her promise hadn’t been broken.

Of course I can’t blame anybody for it because I can recall telling people I will be there only to not be there.  What have I learned from this?  Don’t make any promises you can’t keep.  We are all human and we will let people down, for we make mistakes.  Only God is perfect and doesn’t make mistakes.  When I tell someone I am going to be there, I usually tell them I will try, but I can’t make any promises.  I assume as humans we sometimes get involved in our personal lives that we forget to keep the promises we made over a month or a week ago.  Sometimes I forget I made a promise a few minutes ago! 

So the next time you tell someone you are keeping a promise, you better mean it.  If not, you better explain why or there could be trouble.  As I learned from my Bible study class, say what you mean and do what you say.