Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
July
24, 2016
Broken promises can have a silver
lining
Trust
is a precious gift. Believe I mean what I say and you bless me. But if I break
my promises to you, I will lose your trust. Trust, once violated, is difficult
to restore. And genuine relationships are impossible without trust.
Christian
marriages are usually solemnized at a church altar. The bride and groom stand
before a minister who invites them to vow to be faithful to each other. The
wording of the ritual leaves no room for flippancy: “forsaking all other keep thee only unto her (or him) so long as you both shall
live.”
Broken
marriage vows usually lead to divorce and broken hearts. “Broken” signifies
pain and misery. In marriage the goal is for the “two to become one.” Divorce
“breaks” this oneness, leaving both husband and wife wounded.
The
highway of life is littered with broken promises. Business partnerships are
shattered when promises are violated. Churches are sometimes destroyed or
weakened when sacred vows are not kept.
Most
of us take the promises of politicians with a grain of salt. We have heard too
many whose campaign promises were ignored after the election.
The
pain of broken promises can prove valuable, however, if the unfaithfulness of
others prompts us to seek out the unbreakable promises of God. You might call
this the “silver lining” of broken promises.
Christian
worship is a celebration of God’s faithfulness. God is faithful. This is one of
the bedrock truths of Christian faith: God keeps his promises. You can count on
it.
A
trusted friend may betray you. Your landlord may go back on his word. Your
employer may close down his business, leaving you without a job. The stock
market may fail, depriving you of investments you had planned to live on in
retirement. Perhaps that is why the
Psalmist says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm
20:7). Ultimately we learn that
we cannot trust in horses, or in men, but in God alone.
The
stories of Jesus’ birth remind us that God keeps his word. He kept his word to
Joseph and to Mary, to Zechariah and Elizabeth and to the lowly shepherds. God
surprises everyone by sending angels to announce the birth of his Son to the
shepherds, common laborers with no influence and no credentials. Startled and
afraid, the shepherds hurried into Bethlehem to see if they could find the
infant Messiah lying in a cow’s stall. There they found everything just as the
angels had said. Returning home, they told others that God had done just what
he said he would do.
Mary
and Joseph could testify to God’s faithfulness. The shepherds could testify to
God’s faithfulness. Through the centuries the saints of God have testified to
God’s faithfulness.
But
enough of angels, shepherds and saints. The pertinent question is this: can you
testify that God keeps his promises? I can. Let me explain.
As
a young man I felt burdened by my sins. I thirsted for God’s forgiveness. So I
decided to believe his promise to save me if I trusted him. That promise is
found in Romans 10:9 - “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,”
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
I did that and found peace with God.
Over
the years I have often grown weary of trying hard to “be a Christian” in my own
strength. But I learned to trust the promises of Jesus. I found rest by
believing this promise to be true: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and
carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
When
I have struggled with defeat and disappointment I found hope by turning my
problems over to the Lord. I believed his promise: “But blessed are those who
trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are
like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the
water” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
When
my heart has been broken by tragedy, I have believed that God never forsakes me
and is always working for my good. I believed his promise: “And we know that
God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and
are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28).
In
recent years as my physical strength has sometimes failed, I have believed his
promise: “He will keep you strong right up to the end, and he will keep you
free from all blame on the great day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God
will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is
the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:6-9).
There
it is: all the assurance I need to believe in the faithfulness of God – “he
always does just what he says”! Paul saw it and the Lord let me see it!
The world needs to hear the testimonies of
believers that in a world of broken promises, God is faithful. We can trust
him. He keeps his promises! + + +