Keeping Your Agreements
I've often wondered if people understand what agreements are today. I am familiar with those who make them and demand that you keep your part, but allow them to overlook their part. I've also seen those who sincerely make a commitment and yet their good intentions go out the window when they fail to keep them. These kind of people make me think that agreements are worthless and futile and sometimes a formal contract is the most desirable way to agree.
Being is agreement is a process of being faithful to common ideas and principles whether its with God or man. Agreements are usually for the service people render and the promises you have made to meet the needs of other people. However man has a selfish nature and honoring agreements depends on whether it is expedient. Formal agreements allow both sides the right to enforce the other persons part of the agreement. While God considers the moral side of being faithful to your word he considers the failure to honor your word deceptive. What has God said about his word?
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
In context this verse says that as the rain waters the earth and as seed produces a harvest for the person sowing the seed, so shall his word be. God makes a concerted effort to honor his word and it will produce the desired end. Joshua attests to this principle by saying.
You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. Joshua 23:14-15
God makes it clear that there are rewards for the way you honor you word while keeping your word brings good rewards but on the other hand failing to keep your words has undesirable rewards.
In making agreements the term must be understood by both parties. For example what is said in Massachusetts doesn’t carry the same nuance in San Francisco as it would in Boston. Terms must be spelled out to create an order that one can rely on and be in harmony with.
Agreements are also necessary in your spiritual life because the rewards are wonderful and the wrath of God is so harsh. A Godly life has many limits and boundaries that you can not cross, but those limits structure your life for your well being. Lets remember that if you cross the boundaries God set, you will pay the piper. There is no shortcuts within God's plan, but these limits God gave us help us to avoid sin. Every agreement God makes is beneficial to both sides because his ways are fair, right and just.
Ask your self, how long would you serve God if God did not keep his promises? Written agreements do not force the other person’s words to honor their word. Just as God is committed to honor his word God expects his children to honor theirs. The only benefit from not honoring your word is it makes you into a liar and a deceiver.
For example, you are expected to comply with laws that govern walking a dog in the City Park. These laws require putting your dog on a leash. You may think that you have a controllable dog but strange things happen unexpectedly in strange places that can get out of hand. Still the park laws are safeguards that protect the citizens using the park system. For the same reason there must be some sort of a safeguard you employ to protect the interest of God, your life and the person you bump into.
As God has made a concerted effort to keep his word so should we. Good intentions are promises neglected and prove you to be a liar. Promises are made with the intent of keeping them is not harmful in themselves. However, the failure to honor your promises no matter the intent reveals reliability and destroys trust. Understand this when you make promises those you made promises expect you to keep them.
Your promises to one another should be kept in the same manner as God keeps his. God knows the promise he made and makes an appropriate effort to ensure that his word is kept. The outcome from honoring ones word strengthens the relationship between God and you. In addition faithfulness to your promises result in increased confidence that your word is true and reliable.
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