Believers’ Promise

BELIEVERS’ PROMISE

II Peter 3:9

Human life is limited, we often fail to reach our standard as a normal human

being. One is considered to have reached that standard once one can live in the right path

day by day. Apparently this normal standard is hard to obtain. Actually the standard set

by Jesus for believers is above the normal standard. That means Christians have to be

better than lay people. In the midst of failures, one factor that hinders man from reaching

this standard is his inability to keep his promises. We often disappoint others because we

break our promise. People no longer trust us because of it.

We hear of „false promises? quite frequently. Promise becomes mere promise.

There is an Indonesian phrase, “boneless tongue”, used in a saying like this: “Indeed the

tongue is boneless, not bound by words. A thousand promises is the height of a mountain,

yet different it is at the lips and in the heart.” This saying talks about the failure of

keeping promises. There?s another Indonesian proverb: “Doves never breaks a promise”.

I don?t know why that is. Today let?s learn three things that are important about promise,

especially our promise to God.

1. We must remember our promise

To say a promise is very easy. We call it empty promise. Such promises are

Everywhere; almost everyday we hear such promises on television from commercials

regarding their products. In the world of politics there are also many promises. Amongst

youngsters, especially among dating couples, there are many promises. But often times

promises are broken. In his daily devotionals, “Sinar Harapan”, Eka Darmaputra puts this

nicely: “When a promise becomes trash”, which means that the promise is now

meaningless.

It?s tragic that today people do not take promises seriously, as if breaking promise

was normal. For God, a promise is taken seriously, in II Peter 3:9 (NIV): “The Lord is not

slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not

wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Why is God so serious

with His promises? Is it because God?s word is indeed a serious matter? Peter wants to

explain to us that God never take promises lightly. Neither does the Lord break promise.

It is us, humans who break our promise all the time.

Remember that Lord?s promise to us is like a contract, involving both parties.

Privilege and duty can also be found in it. God promises to bless us, nourish us and our

duties are to be loyal and obedient to Him. But what man does is taking advantage of the

privileges that God gave while never evaluating his own life. When a promise is made,

consistency of the one who vowed is needed. If we are not consistent in keeping our

promise, and try to break them, then the value of that promise becomes weak or even

nonexistent. Promise is made together voluntarily to be bind us. Solomon in his praises

said: “"Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he

promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant

Moses.” (I Kings 8:56, NIV).

God never forces His will to us, so we should not force our will to Him either.

When we force what we want to God, we interfere with God?s plan. In other words, we

have to be sure that God?s promise for us is good. But we often have our own plans that

we think are „good?. On one hand, we know that God is omniscient and omnipotent, yet

we still insist to God with our plans which might interfere with His plans. Now let me ask

you, have you promised God something? Do you still remember that promise? Or do you

only remember God?s promise to you?

In his speech a few months before reelection, Bush promised illegal immigrants in

America some leeway. This is the promise of a president, hopefully he remembers to

keep his promise. But since there were some forgeries of letters in Virginia, he postponed

and finally decided not to keep his promise. This is the promise of a president, who is

also human.

What is your promise to God? Maybe the easiest one to remember is our promise

to live better before God. After retreat, we probably had promised to serve Him. We were

determined to be loyal to Him. Or maybe we promised God to make peace with our

enemies? Perhaps we promised God to support God?s work financially. Do we still

remember those promises? Maybe we only remember, but nothing more than that? Or

have we completely forgotten?

2. We must keep our promise

Indeed, remembering a promise is important, but that is not enough. We must keep