Promises: A Word to Count On.

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

It's another Friday to be here with you for this edition of our weekly newsletter and as usual I'm buzzing for it.

Truly, spending this time with you is fast becoming my favourite thing and I look forward to the day you'd say the same of me.

Jumping right into the discussion, I know you've most likely read the story of the King who made a promise to give his daughter anything she wanted in exchange for her dance performance at a banquet for himself and his friends.

Now imagine his perplexity when on her mother's instruction, she requested the head of a prophet to be delivered to her on a plate; yet he did it.

He delivered the head of John the Baptist to her because the integrity and value of his words were at stake and meant so much to him even more than the life of another man.

As extreme as this might seem, it showed how much the words of a king meant and how far he could go to fulfill them.

An authority that comes with the responsibility to be careful of what he says and a demand to say only relevant things and not just talk for the sake of it.

Discussion:

As we grow and interact with more people, we become less trusting than we were as children. This is because on so many occasions we've been let down and disappointed by even people we've trusted the most.

Our usual response is to become skeptical of words and promises. Here, they mean little because we've accepted that it's 'normal' for them to be broken and dishonoured.

While this is the prevalent situation, we also wouldn't be honest if we deny those rare cases where we've had folks deliver on their words.

If one thing, we'd agree that in all such cases, long before the promises are fulfilled, we were able to validate them based on the following:

▪︎Authority:

The validity of a promise can be determined by the right the person has to make such promises to us.

A very basic example will be a child promising to gift you his father's car on Tuesday morning. He lacks the authority to approve such, so it's totally baseless.

▪︎Reputation:

A person that is known for cheating and lying does not have the behavioural track record to prove that they can keep to what they say.

Words from such people shouldn't be taken seriously as they probably have forgot them faster than it took them to say them without thinking through.

Promises from a person of integrity holds weight because of the consistency in their attitude of honesty and reliability.

▪︎Capacity:

Another thing we consider before we believe a promise is the ability of the person to fulfill such utterances within the said time frame.

For instance, if I promise to send everyone in the world a million dollars to ease their lives, I've only made an empty promise. This is because even with my best intentions I lack the capacity to do it.

▪︎Conditions:

Most times before some words are fulfilled, certain criteria have to be met; and if they're unfair and impossible then there's no way we can redeem them.

If someone says they'll reward you for swimming the Atlantic, then they've given a promise whose condition is impossible to meet.

■ Ultimate Hindrance to Promises:

The biggest limitation to the promises others make to us is death. Many times even when the conditions of authority, reputation and capacity are met, death comes up and alters everything.

This possibility is why our reliability on another man is both unsustainable and unwise.

■ The Ultimate Promise:

The only person that can fulfill all his promises to us is God because he never fails.

In trusting him and living with a willingness to fulfill our purpose here, we align ourselves with his promises to both lead and deliver us through all of life's challenges here and hereafter.

This is the ultimate promise.

Summary:

Even with all our manly limitations, we are advised to discipline ourselves to live with restraint as this is the first step.

We need to be able to hold back from saying things that are out of our control as though we're certain.

A reputation of integrity and trust can only be established when people know that we speak with meaning and purpose and would always hold ourselves accountable for our words.

Master Apprentice.

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