Cross Your Heart???

 

For by these He has granted to us

His precious and magnificent promises,

so that by them you may become partakers

of the divine nature...

II Peter 1:4

It was Junior High School and in a math class, when a girlfriend sitting right behind me tapped me on the shoulder and passed me a note that was from someone behind her. I opened it to find a brief note that any seventh grade girl would die for. It said: “Glendarae, if you like me then I like you. Write me back. Love (guys first name).” Oh man, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. I was amazingly restrained for me and waited until the next day, same class, same friend behind me to return my answer to him. By the way, this was one of the nicest boys you could find anywhere...never in trouble, nice looking, quiet...everything a Mother would want for her daughter. I had carefully crafted my note the night before and in a very original way, it read: Dear ****, If you like me then I like you. Love, Glendarae” Toward the end of the class, I gave it to my girlfriend to give to the young man. I said to my girlfriend, “Promise me you'll give this to **** and that you won't tell anyone about this note.” She promised...I said, “Cross your heart and hope to die?” Yep, she promised all of that. I added,”Stick a needle in your eye?” Yep, she promised that too so I gave her the note. That's what we used to say to nail someone down on a promise.

The next day, I went to band class. I played the saxophone at the time. My girlfriend who passed my note played clarinet and her section was directly across from the saxophone section. Everyone was getting their instruments out, preparing for the band teacher's arrival. All of a sudden, the entire clarinet section stood (about 15 of them) and suddenly the clarinet section began to almost chant together: Dear***, If you like me then I like you. Love, Glendarae” I've been embarrassed many times in my life but nothing like that day. My girlfriend had promised...”Cross my heart and hope to die (I was ready to arrange that) and I'll stick a needle in my eye.” (She wouldn't have to...I would do it for her for free with more than one needle).

You probably can remember promises made to you by people down through the years. When someone says, “I promise” to us, we count on that promise being carried out. When I was in high school, we often said to each other things prefaced with “I promise.” I don't think that's the norm today. We need to realize though that when we give our word to someone, that's like a promise to the other person. However, we live in a day when people aren't true to promises or their word. People take on debt knowing they can't pay their bills. Today, couples recite vows to each other at the marriage altar and those vows may go by the wayside a few years later. We may agree to meet someone for lunch and we just don't show up. I've seen people pledge money to special fund raising at church knowing full well they can't meet that obligation., fulfilling that promise. Are we people of our word or aren't we?

The one thing I'm so thankful for is that we have a God who keeps His Word. He even backed up his promises by sending His Son, true to His Old Testament Word to die for you and me. One can read the Old Testament and see where God was faithful to His Word and prophecies given to His people. Throughout the Old Testament as we see all of the characteristics of God, one we find among many and that you and I can emulate is that of keeping promises.

There are times when in the course of everyday life, I need a list of promises from the Bible I can hang onto. Several years ago, some kind of survey was taken among Christians. This survey boiled things down to 21 top promises from the Bible. You and I know there are hundreds of them, however, a dear friend gave me this list and I'm happy to share them with you. Some you will recognize by their references but let me encourage you to open your Bible and go through these promises. It may be on a day when you really need to hear from God through His Word. On days like that, it's amazing how He speaks to me so clearly through the power of His Word.

 

Deuteronomy 7:9      Psalm 23:4               Psalm 55:22

Psalm 91:14             Psalm 103:12,13       Proverbs 3:6

Isaiah 43:2               Jeremiah 30:17         Luke 6:38

John 3:16                 John 6:35-40            John 11:25,26

Romans 8:28-39       I Corinthians 2:9      Ephesians 2:8

Philippians 4:7          Hebrews 13:6          James 4:7,8

2 Peter 3:9                I John 1:9                Revelation 21:4

We don't even have to ask God to “Cross His heart.” God is so vested in us with a love we can't begin to comprehend that He is always true to His Word. Unlike the best of friends who may mean well, God is incapable of failing us. I would hope that I can be just as faithful in my promises to Him as He is with me.

Dear Father, thank You for Your every promise to me and Your fulfilling every one of them. You have proven Your love for me with every promise You have made to me. You have proven to me that although the best of people in my life may let me down, You never will.

I'm so appreciative for Your kept promises as well as Your love that I will never understand. Amen!