Promises from God
What we’ve done to religion today is appalling. We’ve reinvented it in our marred philosophies, degraded it into something pagan, sold it out for commercial gain or—worst of all—transformed it into the worship of self. Mostly, we’ve conveniently managed to leave God out!
You would think that God left it up to our imagination to define who he is and what he wants for us. But actually, God has revealed himself clearly in an amazing book—the Bible. It’s great history. It’s influential literature. And it’s relevant in the 21st century.
In a university commencement address, you may remember when former newsman Ted Koppel stated, “Our society finds Truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form Truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions; they are commandments...are, not were.”
The truth from God in the Bible includes very clear commandments and instructions meant for our good. But God’s Book is much more than commandments. It tells about a God who loves the people of earth because he created us. A God who has strict standards, but who also forgives. And who has gone so far as to make “precious and very great promises” to us (2 Peter 1:4)…promises that he keeps!
Surprised? Let me show you something about God through three great examples of promises He has made.
First, God loves us and wants us to enter into a vital relationship with him.
What could be more incredible than realizing that the God of the universe knows and loves us? That is what Scripture says. Jesus himself told his disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends” (John 15:13-14). Sure enough, Christ’s disciple John wrote, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). There’s a promise you can live with…for eternity!
It moved the apostle Paul to write, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Who couldn’t use a promise like that!
Have you experienced God’s love yet?
Second, God longs to give us a new heart and forgive our sins.
The bad news is that we all have a fatal “heart disease”—sin. Our souls are bent toward evil. The good news is that God has already made a remarkable, costly provision to forgive our sins. The Bible says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The prophet Jeremiah wrote that a time was coming when God would make a new covenant: “I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). A promise of forgiveness, despite the fact that God is the one we have all ultimately sinned against!
Have you experienced that forgiveness yet?
Third, God invites us to become part of his family forever.
We can become sons and daughters of the King of kings! John wrote that many rejected Jesus Christ when he came to earth, “but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). A promise of adoption into the family of God himself!
Speaking of those who trust in Jesus Christ to forgive them and change their eternal status from “condemned” to “forgiven,” the Bible promises, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ rose from the grave on the third day after his death. The angel at the empty tomb put it this way: “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6)! Christ’s physical resurrection is yet another proof that there’s no promise God makes that he can’t keep!
Have you become a new person in Jesus Christ yet?
God’s promises are yours for the taking!
Is it your heart’s desire to take God at his word for your salvation? If you now agree that there is no other way to God except through Jesus, you can express your change of heart by praying to God in words like these…”Dear God, I believe that when your Son, Jesus, died on the cross for the sins of the world, that included me. I accept that by faith. I want your forgiveness for my sins and accept your offer of eternal life to all who believe that Christ alone is the way to you. Thank you so much for making my salvation possible. Amen.”