Listening to the Holy Spirit:
He who leads must be trusted, his words to be true. For others to follow, a word said must be a word kept. Guard the promises of your mouth, for they are to reflect the God whose Spirit lives within you. Empty words lead to loss, covering only the moment, in sacrifice of what could have been, they that would have followed, now lost to distrust. Influence discarded, in the workplace and those also at home. Words cannot be given price. Consider carefully your promise; do not swear, for the promise of today holds fragile those of coming days. Keep the words of the mouth as if written for the generations, for an unkept word carries with it disgrace of the name who bears it. A man of honor speaks always in truth, and he who walks in righteousness guards his tongue. Keep always the promise of your lips, that you would reflect Truth of the Name you bear.
Numbers 30:2 (ESV) – “If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
Psalm 89:34 (ESV) – “I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.”
Matthew 5:33 (ESV) – “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’”
Taking It to Work:
In the stress of the workplace, and in the stress of family life, sometimes we are tempted to make promises we know we can’t keep. Sometimes it’s to avoid a likely bad reaction, or maybe out of fear of disappointing others. Most of the time, its with good intention, as we truly hope make the game, or that the 15 minute commute will only take 10 minutes, or the three days left on the job will somehow only take two to complete.
We want to make people happy, but in doing so, even if they say nothing, it is at the expense of our reputation when we can’t make the promise come true. It is far better to give realistic expectations, even at initial disappointment, but then keep your word. People then will learn to rely on what you say, even if at first they don’t like the initial estimate. Try something like “I would love to tell you I’ll be there in 10 minutes, but with traffic, I’d say it is going to be more like 15 or 20. I’m shooting for ten though!” or “Mr. Supervisor, I am going to work to get it done this Friday, just as you have requested, but I really wouldn’t count on it until Tuesday. With the workload left, that is the more likely day. I hate to tell you that…but like I said, I’ll be pushing hard for Friday anyway.”
The truth is, if we are going to ever reflect the nature of our God, who always keeps His word, we have to break the habit of telling others what they want to hear, and then not being able to follow through. The little white lies might seem like the right thing to do in the short-term, but in the long-term, trust in us will diminish and so will the reputation of our Christian character.
As it was once wisely said, sometimes you have to “Go Ugly Early”, but in the long run, your Godly reputation will be pretty attractive, as His Word works in you, today.
