Promises

Promise is a beautiful word that holds huge expectations.

I often think that people do not understand the importance of saying the words “I promise”. How many of you have had someone say “I promise” to you in hopes that what they are promising will come true?

I know that this has happened to me on some occasions. The few major promises that were spoken to me did not quite come true. Whether it was my previous employer saying that they will “promise” to give me a raise, my dad saying that he will “promise” to remain in my life, or my friend who will “promise” to keep in touch and maintain some sort of a relationship with me. I cannot say that I ever saw these promises be fulfilled.

But then I have to take a step back and look at my life. Was there ever a time that I made a promise to someone that I could not keep? Of course. There was a time when I promised to meet and hang with my friends and instead I went to dinner with my ex-boyfriend and his friends. There have also been times when I promised my own family that I would do a particular thing, and I unfortunately did not follow through. We all get caught in the easy way of saying “I promise” without taking a step back and looking at the repercussions.   

This past week I have been thinking about a broken promise that was made to me a while back.  I played the words over and over in my head.  One way for me to cope with this broken promise was to do some research on this strong word.

The definition of the word promise is:

a declaration or assurance that one will do or will not do a particular thing.

A few synonyms I found are vow, pledge, and oath.  What a powerful definition for word that is so loosely used.   

It is easy to get caught up in reflecting on the empty promises in our lives. It is easy to become bitter and to sit and wallow about the things that did not come true.  However, sitting and thinking about all the hurt, will not bring us happiness.  A broken promise, whether it be small or large, will never be excusable.  It will of course cause heartache and pain.  So how do we move on from the brokenness in our lives?

Although we are constantly burdened and hurt by the broken promises people stowed upon us, there is one promise that will always remain.  The promise of God’s never ending love will never be broken. There have been times when I felt alone.  I felt angry and wondered why God didn’t show up in certain situations.  Why did this pain have to occur? Yet God showed love to me in different ways. God reminded me that His promise of never-ending love, and always being there for me will never go away. As Jesus was walking with His cross on the way to His own crucifixion, He easily could have dropped that cross, walked away, and went to Heaven to be with God. He could have avoided the pain and suffering…but He didn’t.  

He chose to die on the cross for us. To be beaten and afflicted for us. To be ridiculed and mocked for us. Just to show us how much He loves us. To show us, how much he cares for us. To show us that He will never leave us nor forsake us in our time of need.  To show us that He is the one true God. He knew what was going to happen. He knew the pain that He was going to experience. The ridicule He was going to face.  

Yet through it all, He kept His promise. His promise to be the ultimate sacrifice. To die for our sins just to show us how much He loves us.  

People and their actions can be a disappointment. We hate to admit it, but that’s the truth.  
The power and love of Jesus Christ, will never disappoint. It will never be broken. He is the promise that will never be broken.