Your Word is Your Bond
1 John, Chapter 2, Verses 4-6
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
From a young age, my parents always stressed that if you make a promise then you my abide by that promise. At that young age, I somewhat understood what that meant but not the true value of that meaning. In my teens, if I made a promise, I would try to keep it as long as it did not interrupt or interfere with my well being, so to speak. But witnessing it first hand from my parents, especially my father, really brought it into perspective.
Dad dabbled in a lot of different things from farming, to trucking, to dirt work. He really loved trucking & earth works. In my early 20’s on many Sunday afternoons, I would drive over to his house to check up on him and I would hear the bulldozer or trackhoe operating in his pastures. Dad would be honing his craft…..evidence by the 5 ponds he built on 120 acres portion of the farm, not to mention the other 4 ponds he had already built on the other side of the farm. He was in heaven because he truly loved his work. FYI: That is one thing I apparently did not inherit from my father….love of work!
Anyway, I took off work one Friday and decided to go spend some time with him at his business, if nothing else, to just glean a little bit of wisdom from him. This particular afternoon, he had his bulldozer in the shop and it was torn completely apart. I asked him how it was going and he nodded with an affirmative grin then stated, well I messed up the dozer and the pond he was building for a client. The pond levy had cracked due to a miscalculation on his part. He stated he would lose money on this project because of the misstep on his part. He would need to rent/lease a bigger dozer in order to complete the job. I was astonished to say the least. I asked him, "why not explain it to the client and tell them it was gonna cost more in order to fix the issue?" He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Son, I gave this man my word on the cost. My word is my bond and I will not go back on it. Now, I might go out of business because of my business practices, but I will not go back on my word! It is the only thing I truly have that nobody can ever take away from me!"
That put it all in perspective for me! So, throughout my entire military career, I held myself to the same standard. If it was good enough for the old man, it was good enough for me. I really did not want to deploy multiple times and leave my family and I could have backed out, but I gave my word and I intended to keep it. As the old saying goes "You talked the talk, now walk the walk!"
Just as our Lord gave us his promise long ago in the Old Testament of a Savior. He kept his word and tore down the wall that separated the people from his love & grace. Jesus walked amongst us and kept God’s word. His actions spoke louder than words.
So, when you made that promise to dedicate your life to Christ, are you keeping your word/bond by "walking that walk?"
We all stumble & fail from time to time, but we learn more from our mistakes than we ever will from our successes. Through pain & suffering comes redemption and grace. God never gave up on us and he kept his promise! We must keep our promise to him!
Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Please pray for the sick & elderly, those in pain & suffering. Remember the good times, be thankful the Lord led you through the bad times & always count your many blessings.
May you have a blessed day!
Will Ross
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
From a young age, my parents always stressed that if you make a promise then you my abide by that promise. At that young age, I somewhat understood what that meant but not the true value of that meaning. In my teens, if I made a promise, I would try to keep it as long as it did not interrupt or interfere with my well being, so to speak. But witnessing it first hand from my parents, especially my father, really brought it into perspective.
Dad dabbled in a lot of different things from farming, to trucking, to dirt work. He really loved trucking & earth works. In my early 20’s on many Sunday afternoons, I would drive over to his house to check up on him and I would hear the bulldozer or trackhoe operating in his pastures. Dad would be honing his craft…..evidence by the 5 ponds he built on 120 acres portion of the farm, not to mention the other 4 ponds he had already built on the other side of the farm. He was in heaven because he truly loved his work. FYI: That is one thing I apparently did not inherit from my father….love of work!
Anyway, I took off work one Friday and decided to go spend some time with him at his business, if nothing else, to just glean a little bit of wisdom from him. This particular afternoon, he had his bulldozer in the shop and it was torn completely apart. I asked him how it was going and he nodded with an affirmative grin then stated, well I messed up the dozer and the pond he was building for a client. The pond levy had cracked due to a miscalculation on his part. He stated he would lose money on this project because of the misstep on his part. He would need to rent/lease a bigger dozer in order to complete the job. I was astonished to say the least. I asked him, "why not explain it to the client and tell them it was gonna cost more in order to fix the issue?" He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Son, I gave this man my word on the cost. My word is my bond and I will not go back on it. Now, I might go out of business because of my business practices, but I will not go back on my word! It is the only thing I truly have that nobody can ever take away from me!"
That put it all in perspective for me! So, throughout my entire military career, I held myself to the same standard. If it was good enough for the old man, it was good enough for me. I really did not want to deploy multiple times and leave my family and I could have backed out, but I gave my word and I intended to keep it. As the old saying goes "You talked the talk, now walk the walk!"
Just as our Lord gave us his promise long ago in the Old Testament of a Savior. He kept his word and tore down the wall that separated the people from his love & grace. Jesus walked amongst us and kept God’s word. His actions spoke louder than words.
So, when you made that promise to dedicate your life to Christ, are you keeping your word/bond by "walking that walk?"
We all stumble & fail from time to time, but we learn more from our mistakes than we ever will from our successes. Through pain & suffering comes redemption and grace. God never gave up on us and he kept his promise! We must keep our promise to him!
Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Please pray for the sick & elderly, those in pain & suffering. Remember the good times, be thankful the Lord led you through the bad times & always count your many blessings.
May you have a blessed day!
Will Ross
Posted in Faith