It is better to say nothing than to promise something that you don't follow through on. Eccl. 5:5 (NLT)
I grew up with a father who believed that a man was only as good as his word. You can tell a lot about a person by how they follow through on there commitments. You can guarantee when my dad said, “We will be there on Friday, Lord willing.”, we would be there on Friday unless some unforeseen, out of our control emergency arose. People knew that if my dad said he would do it, it was as good as done. Standing by his commitments was important to my dad after all God always stands by His.
I am seeing more and more in our society we are downsizing the importance of standing by our commitments. We are willing to commit, as long as it doesn’t get too hard, or something bigger and better doesn’t come along. Our commitments as a whole are nothing more then empty words, based on what we are feeling at the moment.
As Christians we need to stand by our commitments. When the going gets tough, we should seek God’s strength and get tougher. We need to decide here and now that we are going to be people who can be counted on. If we say we will do it, we mean that we are going to exhaust every ounce of effort and energy we have to get it done. Our commitments should be important to us. We need to be serious about the things we say and not take our promises lightly.
God is always true to His commitments. If God said it, you can take it to the bank. He does not change His mind, He does not back off when it gets uncomfortable or hard. We should seek to model God and glorify Him with our commitments. Whether we make a commitment directly to God, to others or even to ourselves, we should see them through to the end.
Will you stand true to your commitments? Things get tough, things get uncomfortable, and sometimes we even wish we didn’t make the commitments. Stick it out and see it through no matter the cost; that’s what Jesus would do.
