We Break Them

By Chad McComas

Promises.  We break them.

I promise to be somewhere at a certain time.  I show up late.

I promise to have something done by a certain time.  I extend the deadline.

I promise to love in good times and in bad.  I do in good times, not in bad.

I promise to pay for what I receive.  I owe people.

I promise to God I will be faithful.  I fail.

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt and promised them a better land He gathered them at Mt. Sinai and made an agreement with them.  He promised to be their God.  He said: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession…you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  Exodus 19:5,6

They said: “We will do everything the LORD has said.”  Exodus 19:8

History tells us just how good their promises were.  They broke them over and over and over.

Jesus came to earth to reconcile the situation.  The contract had been broken.  We were at fault.  John writes the words of Jesus: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:17

A new contract had to be established.  The old was in default because of broken promises.

“The ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.  But God found fault with the people…” Hebrews 8:6-8

God found fault with us.  We had made promises and failed to keep them.  There was only one thing to do.  He had to make the promises and keep us out of it!

He says: “I will make a new covenant…not like the covenant I made with their forefathers…I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  Hebrews 8:8-12.

God does all the work.

Our part?  Get out of the way.  Accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and let His Holy Spirit come live in us. No promises.  Just surrender.

Chad McComas writes from Medford, Oregon. info@thechristianjournal.org