A Great Promise and a Great Belief

 

When Abram was 75 years old, the Lord promised to bless the world through a son of his, but time continued to march on and still Abram had no son. Then the Lord showed Abram the stars of heaven, and promised that his descendants would be as many as the stars of the night (Gen 15.5).

Great was the promise, but then great was the belief of Abram, for the Bible says, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15.6).

Whatever the Lord said, Abram believed it, and for that the Lord considered Abram a righteous man.

If you want to be like him that you might be a blessing to those around you, believe whatever the Bible says and see what happens. DR

 

Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say

 

Jesus taught that if we make a promise, we do not have to swear by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any place on earth, nor by any part of our lives, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matt 5.33–37).

If we say what we mean, and mean what we say, doing what we said, and saying what we shall do, why do we have to swear by something, promising that we will do it?

Sometimes we do that because we want a person to know that we will keep our promises, but the best way to let people know that we do what we promise is to build a reputation of doing just that. DR

Related Articles

• Bulletin Articles from December 16, AD 2012 (grantspasschurchofchrist.com)