One of the hardest virtues to develop in life is to be a person who keeps their “word”!
At one time “our word was our bond” and you could trust most people who gave you their word.
It was a matter of honor and character to keep your word even if it cost you something in some
way. We all make comments, promises, or vows to others where we say will do something. We
give them our “Word”, be it sworn to or not. They are given a clear expectation that you will
follow up on it.... but then..... what do they discover?
Are you a person who is true to your “Word”... or are you just a sounding gong or a
clashing cymbal... someone who is good at saying something but poor at following through?
Perhaps it isn’t even an action that you promised to do. Perhaps it is a position that you have said
you will hold. Perhaps it is a way you feel. Perhaps it is something that you talked about from the
past but that you have embellished or shifted the full truth, to make it sound better. Either way,
your “word” has not been fully trustworthy or honest. Each time we do this we hurt the other
person to some degree. Each time we do this it breaks down the trust that people have in others.
It is one more fingerprint on the mirror of our life that dims its ability to reflect a good image.
Too many of these and the image becomes hard to see. Recently I got an email that said that I
had won a new BMW sports car, plus a half a million British pounds. They had sent me this
“word” with full assurance that it was true. Like so many of these wild promises, it was a scam.
Their “word” was a Lie, a way to try to get some money out of me on a pretext. It is sad that
there are people who get caught in these sorts of scams. It is even sadder that this kind of use of
words is becoming more common these days. That people have less and less trust in what others
say to them, for words are used all too often to manipulate people today.
Can you trust the words used on commercials? Can you trust the words given you by the
politician, or the car salesman, or the real estate agent? Can you trust the sales rep who contacts
you over the phone and offers you the “free vacation”? Much of the time you can’t! You almost
know from the very beginning to take anything they say with the proverbial grain of salt. That
you have to wait for the shoe to drop before you will really know what they are truly saying. In
the midst of this culture it does not surprise me that more and more people are finding it harder to
believe in the “word” of God when it is shared with them. We now have a built in scepticism to
any “word” that is given to us. Yet what a difference this is from Jesus, who was the living
“Word” of God on earth. Jesus did speak the truth, even if it was hard to hear at times. Jesus did
lay down his life to show that His “Word”/message could be trusted. He demonstrated the He
was the true “word” of God, full of truth and light, who wanted to give us life in all its fullness.
If people can get past their scepticism and learn to trust in the words of Jesus a wonderful
new world opens up. For they find that “Word” that brings us to a deeper peace, truth, hope, and
love. Perhaps if we as Christians were better at keeping “our word” it would be easier for them
to do this. Next time you say something, or promise someone something, ask yourself... do I
truly believe in these “words” that I am speaking? Am I prepared to follow up on them? Jesus
was, even when it meant that he had to come to earth to live a human life amid a very imperfect
set of people, us. Let’s be thankful to God at Christmas that He did come and that he give us a
better example to follow and a new “word” that gives us hope.. For it is a “word” about God’s
infinite love for us.
