When God makes a promise, you can take it to the bank.
God cannot lie, so His promises never deceive. God is all-powerful, 
so His promises never fail. – Michael Lawrence

In the children’s book, Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss, Mayzie, a lazy mother bird who is tired of sitting on her egg, wants a vacation. Horton, a full-sized elephant, happens to pass by and Mayzie, begs him to take her place. She promises that she “won’t be gone long…I give you, my word.” Although initially reluctant, Horton agrees and climbs up onto the nest to sit on the egg. But Mayzie doesn’t keep her word. She takes off for an 11-month vacation in Palm Beach. Horton, however, proves faithful. He nearly freezes through the winter, is mocked and deserted by his friends, captured by hunters, shipped across the ocean, and is displayed across the country by a traveling circus. At each set-back, Horton keeps his word and proclaims, I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful one hundred percent! When Mayzie tries to reclaim her egg after it hatches, she discovers that the egg has been transformed by Horton’s faithfulness. It’s no longer an ordinary bird, but an “elephant bird” that looks like Horton and claims Horton as his true parent.

Our world is in great need of more promise-keepers. In a culture full of Lazy Mayzies and promise breakers, the Bible commands Christ-followers to be different, to be a Horton.  Keeping our word brings glory to God!

We’re in another election season. Lots of promises are being made by the political candidates. Only the naïve voters believe that they’ll be kept. Every four years a slew of Presidential candidates step up to a microphone and start making promises…the majority of which can never really be kept. None of this is new. Historian, Joseph Ellis, tracked the first broken campaign promise back to 1800, when Thomas Jefferson promised more than he could deliver and started a more than 200-year trend. 

Did you do this? When I was a boy, if you wanted to guarantee you were going to keep a promise, you said, “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Google it and you’ll find that the phrase first appears in print in the 1800s. In addition, there was an alternative version “Cross my heart and hope to die; step on a cat and spit in its eye” (obviously, that was not approved by local cat lovers). But there was a loophole to this promise making. If you secretly crossed your fingers while you were making the promise, it didn’t count. Part of the fun was to try to get one over on your friends by sneakily crossing your fingers. 

Someone today who keeps their word is rare, even among Christ-followers. The prevalence of the problem has caused the coining of a term painfully familiar to us today: credibility gap. To say something is “credible” is to say it is “capable of being believed, trustworthy.” To refer to a “gap” in credibility suggests there is a “breach or a reason for doubt.”

Be honest. How many times have you made promises like these, but not actually kept them? “I’ll call you.” “I can finish that project by next week.” “I’ll have to get together with you for coffee…lunch…dinner.” “I’m sending you the check today.” “I’ll pray for you about that.”

Jurors often have reason to doubt the testimony of a witness on the stand. Parents, likewise, have reason at times to doubt their children’s word (and vice versa). Citizens doubt the promises of politicians, and the credibility of an employee’s word is questioned by the employer. Creditors can no longer believe a debtor’s promise to pay, and many a mate has ample reason to doubt the word of his or her partner. It’ a terrible dilemma! Very few do what they say they’ll do without a reminder, a warning, or a threat. Unfortunately, this is true even among Christians. God though always keeps His promises. He never lies and He commands us, as Christ-followers, to keep our word, too. 

Scripture has a lot to say about keeping your word: Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another (Ephesians 4:25). O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart. (Psalm 15;1-2). It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay (Ecclesiastes 5:5). If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth (Numbers 30:2).

Too often Christ-followers struggle with keeping our promises. If we’re not careful, we may end up with a broken string of promises in our lives. Broken promises can lead to broken relationships. Chipping away at our credibility damages our relationships with our brothers and sisters. But it’s especially harmful to relationships with those who don’t have a relationship with our Savior yet are watching our lives to see if they can trust us when we urge them to trust the God we represent. While changing your mind from time to time or changing circumstances may prevent you from keeping a promise, breaking promises without a real reason is wrong and unhealthy.

How Can We Be Better At Keeping Our Promises?

Pay close attention to your words. Every word you communicate matters to God. They carry spiritual power within them that can either help or harm others. Jesus promised that when it comes time to judge people for the choices they’ve made in their lives, …by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:37). So please don’t speak, text, email, or otherwise use your words to make promises you don’t really mean.

Examine your patterns of making promises. Evaluate when you tend to make careless promises and study the situations in which you do so you can understand why you’re promising what you don’t really intend to do. Did you feel pressured to make a promise? Were you in a rush and just saying what you thought people wanted to hear so you could move on? Did you make a promise simply because it seemed like the polite thing to do? Were you trying to get someone to like you by promising something? Pray about whatever patterns you notice, asking the Holy Spirit to help you change sinful habits of promise breaking.

Take time for some consideration before making a promise. Don’t rush in making a promise you might not be able to keep. Stop yourself before you make a commitment, delaying your decision long enough to think it through. Count the cost of following through on potential plans, as Jesus urges us to do before making an important decision in Luke 14:28: Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? If your promise isn’t impulsive, it’s likely to be genuine.

As Christ-followers, we must always remember that we represent Jesus Christ. We’re His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). The more careful we are about making promises, the easier it is to keep them. In doing so, we become more like our promise-keeping God and help draw others closer to Him as they seek spiritual truth and learn of His promises!