Integrity - Do you keep your word?
"When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it" (NLT) Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
It is a common human nature to make rash promises and failing to honour them. When we are beside ourselves with ecstasy, we make unrealistic promises and when the reality dawns on us, we realise that we didn't think through our words. The most serious aspect of this character flaw is the rash promises we make to God. When we need something so badly, such as a contract, we are quick to pray, "God, help me win this contract and I'll give 50% of the proceeds to you." Immediately, the money hits our accounts, that is when we remember we have not paid our kids' school tuition bills, we have not completed the roofing of our building, and on and on, the devil will flood our minds with our material needs.
We may go scot free when we dishonour our promises to our fellow human beings but we should be very careful when we are dealing with God. As the inspired preacher said in the book of Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5), God takes no pleasure in people who do not honour their promises to Him. Better to make no promises than to make them, and dishonour them.
So take a stock of your life. What are some of the promises you made to God and man that you have dishonoured? Husbands and wives, are you honouring the vows you exchanged on your wedding day? Employees, are you honouring the words you wrote in your acceptance letter? Leaders, are you honouring the vows you made?
We have all in one way or the other dishonoured some promises we made in the past. Some times, we even forget that we made such promises. That makes us human. Some things are just beyond our control and no matter how hard we try, it is not every promise we can honour. However, if we are consistently breaking our promises or develop a bad reputation for not honouring our promises, then it is a character flaw we need to deal with. Trust is critical to every relationship and if you're known to be a habitual promise breaker, all the people who matter in your life will have nothing to do with you again.