Taking Our Promises Seriously

The world may entice us to play loosely with our promises, but God demands that we be people of our word. Today, R.C. Sproul underscores the gravity of our oaths and vows in the sight of the Lord.

One of the problems that we face in our culture today that has become a very serious issue is the breakdown of our whole system of contracts and covenants that are based upon solemn promises, on sacred vows and holy oaths. God takes promises and oaths and vows very seriously. But we live in a culture today that just seems to play loosely with promises. We’ve seen the disintegration of the institution of marriage, where there’s a willy-nilly violation of vows that take place all the time.

We make promises with our fingers crossed so that if the thing that we hadn’t anticipated comes to pass after we’ve entered into the agreement, we want out of the agreement. I read almost every day in the newspaper in the sporting pages about some athlete who is now asking to renegotiate his contract because he’s had a better season than he thought he would have. And he realizes now that his market value has increased significantly from the day he first entered into his agreement. We don’t just see this in the sporting world; we see it in the workplace every day, where somebody agrees to certain remuneration and employment stipulations. They’re not there very long, and they’re demanding changes in the terms of their contract. And this has become acceptable behavior.

Now, the Bible cautions us to be very careful about taking vows and oaths, and entering into solemn pacts and agreements. For this reason, as the Bible tells us, it is better never to vow than to vow and not pay. Because if I don’t take my vow seriously and you don’t take your vow seriously, God does take it seriously.