Extreme Promises

 

We as people tend to make extreme promises, vows, and pledges. People say things like “I will love you forever,” “I will never forget this,” and “As long as I live I will honor what you did.” The problem with these statements is that we cannot possibly be sure we will fulfill them. You may not love someone forever because they start making choices that tears you down and themselves down. You may not remember what that person did for you because you get brain injury, amnesia, Alzheimer's or just time & stressors made you forget. And while you may intend to honor the memory of someone or their legacy, a time may come when you fail to do so. 

So why do we make these grand pledges? Why does Hallmark print them on cards? Why cannot we prove our love by daily saying “I love you,” rather than “I shall always love you,” and “I will love you forever and ever.” The nature of making ostentatious vows is that we intend to fulfill them, but have not the capacity of foresight to see we will not be able to. In other words we promise the moon, and realize later we cannot even set foot on it. This is not a new phenomenon in human nature, people have always made grand promises of fealty, chastity, matrimony, and so forth. Then unlike Jesus we find ourselves unable to follow through on the plan, though even in His flesh our God felt the pull to break The Promise, “Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”  (Matthew 26:29). Jesus who is Lord felt that thing that keeps us from keeping promises: sin, stress, fear of pain, fear of death, the demonic, and etc. Jesus did not fail, make no mistake, He merely voiced the agony He felt, and He did submit to His Father, “.Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:29). So he did not sin as we do, “Christ was tempted in all points even as we are and yet he was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). My point is he felt what makes us break promises and yet did not break His Promise. 

Another source of this grand vow nature we have is Satan. In a world that is fallen we overcompensate, promising more than we can deliver because we want to, and believe in that moment we will, however, Jesus The Son of God says, 

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear an oath/ vow at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37). Our Lord shows us anything beyond a simple yes I will or no I will not is of Satan, because at least in yes of the moment you can follow through, but promise tomorrow or years from now or forever, and you are in folly because Jesus also said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own,” (Matthew 6:34).  

There is a reason our faith is described as this, “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). That daily part is crucial. We make the declaration of our faith at Baptism or in The Sinner’s Prayer, and are sealed by The Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). However, you have to work at it daily; what I mean is the relationship and following Christ. Yes you are saved (Romans 10:9-10), but to what purpose? Is it only to escape hell or is it to be with God The Trinity, Our Bridegroom forever? It should be the ladder, and if so then you should be developing the relationship with Him now and walking out that faith daily. 

There is no avoiding promises, many of them like in matrimony and when you dedicate yourself to Christ are good. What concerns me is that we make other grand promises, and those are made in blindness of the moment, and what lies in the future can prove us unable to keep them. Amen.