When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5)
A wise brother once told me that a person is not judged by how many promises he makes, but by how many promises he actually keeps. Friends, we live in a day when everything must be verified in writing, notarized, witnessed, legalized and filed with the proper authorities in order to make it a binding commitment…it’s no wonder we place so little value in the simple word given in honest faith. It seems we aren’t safe in taking anybody at their word anymore. I don’t believe that’s the way God intended for His Children to live. Sometimes it seems so much easier to make a promise and then immediately forget the very words we have spoken, not considering the consequences. But when we look at what God says in scripture, then we can see how important our vows and our promises are to God.
In Acts 5:1-11 we read of a man and his wife named Ananias and Sapphira who, like many other Christians of their day, sold their possessions to support the Christian community. Here is their story. Verses 1-2 says: “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
This was a good intention on their part, except that they were found to be deceptive, and they kept back part of the money for themselves…and then they tried to lead the apostles to believe that they had sacrificed their possessions with pure motives. But in verses 3-4, we find that Peter was made wise of their deed: “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Friends, we need to understand that even though we may fool men, the Holy Spirit is aware of the truth…He knows our hearts and the motives with which we do the things that we do and He will often reveal secrets to His servants. God is looking for people with pure and honest hearts. God HATES deceitfulness.
And we know the rest of the story…that simple lie cost Ananias and Sapphira their lives. How differently we might view our actions and our vows if we realized that the One that we make our vows to is God and not to people.
Friends, think about it…how often do we make small promises that we never intend to keep? Or maybe sometimes we just get too busy and we think no one will know anyway. But someone does know…God knows! Sure, everybody forgets sometimes, but for some people it becomes a way of life to make promises they never intend to keep. I was having a problem, as often people would ask me to pray for them, and I would agree to do that. But when prayer time came, often I would forget or have something else on my heart to pray about, and that promise would get pushed aside and forgotten. I learned through that experience that when someone asks me to pray, the best thing I can do is to stop what I’m doing and take care of it right then…praying WITH the person instead of FOR them.
Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:33-37 about vows. He said: “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 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 here is the key Friends. Verse 37 says, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”
Jesus stresses the importance of being known by our word. We shouldn’t have to make vows or sign legal agreements to assure that people will believe what we say, we should be people of integrity. We need to be aware that every vow we make, regardless of who we make it to, ultimately it is a promise to God. We need to be known as “People of our word.”
I was sharing with a sister in the Lord many years ago about a prayer need for my father, and she simply said, “If the Lord lays a burden on my heart, I’ll pray for him.” At first I thought her statement seemed very cold. But after I thought about it, I realized that I would rather she told me that, than to promise to pray for him and then not do it. Praise God for people who are careful about the vows they make. We need to keep track of our promises and be sure to fulfill them.
In Matthew 21:28-31 Jesus told a parable of a man with two sons. He asked the first one to work in the vineyard, and that son said he would not, but later regretted his answer and went to work in the vineyard anyway. When the man asked the second son, he said yes he would go, and then he didn’t. Don’t we all do that sometimes? Now Jesus posed a very interesting question in verse 31, He said, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Often, in conducting business, people want so much to make their customers or clients happy that they promise anything just to keep the customer. But what they don’t realize is that when, time after time, it is proven their word can’t be trusted, their business loses credibility, customers are disappointed and businesses fail. It is much wiser to admit our inabilities than to try to be everything to everybody and then fail in the things that we say. We all have limits and we need to realize them and live within them.
Of course, there are times for all of us when we give our word with all good intentions, but circumstances beyond our control prevent us from keeping the vows we’ve made. One such situation would be not being able to pay our bills due to unemployment or sickness. These are unavoidable situations, and certainly anyone would understand. However, even in those type of situations, we need to be certain to let those involved know of our circumstances and try to make other arrangements so that we can keep our part of the agreement. Forgetfulness may be a problem on occasion, but when it becomes a habitual thing, we need to examine our motives. And another thing we need to be careful about is returning things that we borrow from others.
I think probably the best guideline we could follow is spoken by our Lord in Matthew 7:12 what we commonly call “The Golden Rule”. There He said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” We should all abide by the Golden Rule!! Let’s ask the Lord to help us to be sensitive to those around us and to be faithful in the things that matter to them. We can ask ourselves, “Would I want someone to do that to me?”
If we expect to be treated with honesty and integrity, then we need to do our best to treat others the same way. By doing this we are promoting peace, unity and trust with others, and we are fulfilling the will of God concerning our vows. Jesus gave us instructions to let our light shine before others, and the reason He told us to do that is there in Matthew 5:16 where He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” As we allow Him to develop faithfulness in us, we are showing His likeness and character to the world as His representatives, ambassadors to our King.
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