A Worthless Promise?
Leonard Jones made a name for himself for his promises. Together with his partner McDaniel’s they set out to create the City of the World. What set these two apart from others was their belief in immortality. Not life after death…rather they believe they personally would live eternally, and others could do the same. All they needed was faith. Particularly faith in them.
Jones’ promises began to unravel when his immortal partner somehow died while setting up plans for the immortal city. With this inconvenience, Jones decided to move into a more honorable profession with his promises…politics.[1]
What’s in a Promises?
This is the problem with promises. They are only as good as the promise maker. For a promise to be something you can place your faith in without risking feeling foolish later there must exist three things. The promise-maker must have the authority, the ability, and trustworthiness to make and keep it. The problem is no one that can occupy all three of those parts all the time.
It’s even worse when the promise requires consistency across a long period of time. We can see the failure of this ability in the divorce rate. Even marriages that last are able to do so because of something practices by both partners…forgiveness.
However, there does exist one promise maker that can occupy all three areas perfectly. That is God. Unlike humankind, God has the authority, ability, and the trustworthiness making Him the only source of promises that are reliable.
- He is trustworthy; “God is not a man that He should lie.” (Numbers 23:19)
- He is unchanging; “The LORD has sworn not to change His mind.” (Psalms 110:4)
- He has the power and will to fulfill His promises; “[I] will accomplish what I desire…” (Isaiah 55:11)
- His is faithful; “Not one of the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” (Joshua 21:45)
The greatest of these promises is the contained in Jesus Christ. That promise is found here:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36
This promise goes two ways. First, the one who places his faith in Jesus Christ, seeing that His sin are what has broken the intended relationship with God, can receive eternal life. But, the one who fails to obey God’s command to believe (repent and place your faith in Christ) will instead receive a promise of punishment.
In the end, how this promise works out depends on our submission to God as the only promise maker you can trust. Because, the promises will not fail, despite your thoughts on the matter.
[1] https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PyZmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BZANAAAAIBAJ&pg=4499,126554&hl=en