TOBI Says: Do you promise?
Have you ever made a promise? What is a promise? What does it mean to you?
A promise is a vow or statement about something that is important to both people. At a marriage ceremony, the man and woman promise or vow to love each other.
There are many other times that people make promises. Some are very simple. Mom asks, did you brush your teeth? Does she believe you when you say yes? She knows if that is a statement she can believe.
When the teacher asks about your homework, is your answer a fair statement? Would you say, “I promise?” There are some other areas like that. Did you clean your room, did you study for that test, and did you practice that music?
The other side is when you want something. The young person says, I promise I will feed the puppy if we can keep him. Or I will obey you every day if I can have it today. Those kind of promises depend on the other person trusting you.
Is your promise good? As you get older, the promises get more complicated and more difficult to keep. Sometimes circumstances make promises difficult to keep. Good intentions are nice but they can fail.
A car wreck, a flat tire or someone getting sick can all be reasons that a promise gets broken. Some results can be overlooked. But some have much more impact on your life. Things like a job, or a friendship or getting a car can depend on you keeping your promise.
In the Bible, in the Old Testament, God made some very specific promises to the children of Israel. Many of them were fulfilled in the New Testament. Some will be fulfilled in the future. Studying those will show that God always keeps his promises. And that he always will. You can trust him.
His best promise is that you can know you are going to heaven. He said he will give you eternal life, when you ask him to forgive your sin.