PROMISE KEEPING

PROMISE KEEPING
Saturday, December 17, 2022 by Leona Choy

In childhood when we wanted to prove that we would keep a promise, we'd cross our hearts and say, “Cross my heart and hope to die, if I tell a lie” (with variations!) That sealed it. We really meant it!

I know exactly where I was at the time I made my earliest promise to God as a fourteen-year-old new Christian. Our youth group met on Sunday nights in the historic downtown First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One of my favorite new hymns was the classic: Youtube link

“O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend; I shall not fear the battle, if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway, if Thou wilt be my guide.”

“Yes, Lord, that's what I promise,” I earnestly, fervently prayed in the flush of my early commitment to surrender totally to the will of God for my life and my future. “Cross my heart and hope to die, if I tell a lie. I will serve Thee to the end!”

In my honest innocence, I intended to be a promise keeper. How have I measured up? I could not have known where my life commitment would take me in the nearly one hundred years with which God has blessed me. What battles was I called upon to fight? Where did God's rough pathways lead? What consequences were there from wanderings from the pathways of God's guidance? What has “service to the end” involved?

Have I reached the end? The end of what? Scripture speaks of many aspects of "the end."

From the Bible book of Hebrews, “Whose [Christ's] house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end,” and “show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,” and “the end of the ages.” “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end” And when speaking of Joseph, “when his end was nigh.”

The apostle Peter echoes, “the end of all things is at hand,” and “receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls,” and “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.”

The apostle John adds, “He [Jesus] loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”

The apostle Paul declares, “He shall also confirm you unto the end [the day of our Lord Jesus Christ],” “Then [comes] the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power.”

The book of Revelation thunders “And he that overcomes, and he that keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations.” John quotes Jesus, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

What does “the end” mean?

The end of my mortal life on earth, as Peter expressed, “knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent.” All flesh is subject to that end, our bodily death.

The end of my calling from God. My task is done, “I have finished my course” Paul realized of himself.

The end as of the gospel of the Kingdom being preached unto all nations, “then shall the end come.”

The end of all things, life as we know it, the world as we know it, the end of the age as explained by Peter in the fourth chapter of his first epistle and the third chapter of his second epistle. The present heavens and earth will be destroyed in God's judgment. Peter calls God a promise keeper three times in the third chapter. The “heavens will pass away and earth and all its works will be burned up, and all things destroyed.” Utter devastation.

The end of our waiting—the glorious Second Coming of Christ, “the summing up of all things in Christ.”

All of these “ends” are certain to happen, but in what sequence we are each to experience them is only known to God. These are “the ends” to which in my tender youth I made a promise to serve Him. God is faithful. He will never revoke His promise. With His enabling, He doesn't expect me to rescind mine.

The Scripture encourages me to stay faithful and endure to the end of my life pilgrimage. I'm not on a greased slide into heaven.

I don't like to think of the end of anything; I'd rather focus on bright, fresh beginnings. The Lord doesn't leave me dangling in despair or fear to face any of the ends ahead of me. He lifts my eyes beyond the ends and turns His spotlight on the new heavens and new earth, on Jesus' promise to “make all things new,” on my eventual new, resurrected, immortal body, and on eternal life with Him. “He who endures to the end will receive the crown of life.”

The bottom line? “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10:36). What did Jesus, our Promise Keeper, promise? An unfading crown of glory described by Peter. That we will obtain “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time [at the end].”

Our Promise Keeper, Jesus, rather than “crossing His heart and hoping to die” to prove His faithfulness, “opened His heart on the cross and died” to remain with us and never forsake us through all “the ends” of life.

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Comments

Carole From Enumclaw, Wa At 12/23/2022 12:55:45 PM

Comforting thoughts dear Leona. Makes me think about a song I love..."This world is not my home, I'm just a passin through". So looking forward to meeting you in our new heavenly home. God bless, Carole

Reply by: Leona Choy

Truly, as the hymn declares, "the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." Only the Eternal things matter anymore.

Peter From At 12/21/2022 7:45:02 PM

Words of encouragement by our never say die mama Leona. Thank you for the encouraging words.

Reply by: Leona Choy

How pleasant to hear from you again. I know, assuredly, that you are faithfully continuing to serve the Lord where He has planted you in Nigeria, although your wish was to be in the U.S. for other academics. Be diligent and fruitful. Mama Leona

Donna Duffy Simpson From Winchester, VA At 12/19/2022 3:58:32 PM

Such encouraging words! Love you Leona and praying for you daily! Madam Butterfly

Reply by: Leona Choy

Dear Friend, I need your prayers more than you know. Please don't let up but persevere. Hope to see you soon. A blessed Christmas to you both.

Linda Ann Fumea From Hernando FL At 12/18/2022 7:51:33 AM

Amen, Amen and Amen !!! To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. 2nd Corinthians 5:8. He is faithful who has promised! Hebrews 10:23 Looking forward to seeing our Heavenly Home that Jesus has prepared for us.

Reply by: Leona Choy

Why struggle so hard to stay here when the Big Celebration is ELSEWHERE?! Perhaps because more people are invited but not yet responding and the Banquet Hall is not full yet with people we are meant to reach.

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