Keeping Our Vows and Pledges

I am sure we have all realized that many people do not tell the truth. Not only that, they do not keep their vows to do what they say they will do. This is a serious situation. It makes it very hard for us to know what to do when we deal with other people. Do we trust them? Are we able to rely on them? It is a dilemma. This is why we have to require people to make pledges under oath, like in a court of law. It is why the US President makes a vow to uphold the constitution on his inauguration day. Did you know that these practices go all the way back to the Bible and Moses's instructions to the people from the Lord? Well, it does. (Numbers 30:2) Moses said that a man who makes a vow to the Lord or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do. That is God's standard for us. 

This shows us several things that God wants to be true of us, as believers. He wants us to mean business with Him. He expects us to be committed to do whatever we vow to Him. We must not make flippant promises to God. When we say that we will do something in His service, we must follow through every time. Also, we must never break a pledge to another person or company. We must always fulfill what we have promised to do, whether it is making payments on a loan, or carrying out a particular plan of action. We are to be characterized by telling the truth and sticking with what we say. Jesus is the Truth, and we are to be like Jesus in what we say and do. Then, people will see we can be trusted, so they can depend on us. They will be much more inclined to believe what we say about Jesus and about life. I pray we will all make this commitment to the Lord which Moses gave Israel over 3,000 years ago. It will be a great blessing for us and for those with whom we deal.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 31-33.