We recently advertised a campaign at our church called the Promises Campaign. During the months of February and March, on Sunday mornings we talked about how God makes incredible promises to each of us that can be found in the Bible. God promises to redeem us, forgive us, to be our strength, and to have unfailing unlimited love for each one of us.
These are just a few of the thousands of promises God makes to us as our Heavenly Father who is incapable of breaking promises. Yet in contrast to God's unbreakable promises, we live in a society where people's promises are broken, not trusted and the word has lost its value. So we decided as a church we wanted to extend the kind of non-breakable God promises into our community and make some promises, the kinds that we would keep.
We opened up our campaign to anyone who lived in the city and offered to have them apply for help with some kind of small service project. We said we can't do everything, but we can do some things and trust me, we have no pot of gold to fund this project. We wanted to walk in faith that God would provide if we stepped out where we felt He was leading.
We received over 30 applications for needs to be met with requests from yard work, to new summer tires, to taking down an old addition. Our team is gathering next week to decide which promises we can commit to fulfilling to help those in need. Once we commit to a project, we will do everything to complete this commitment and not break our promise. We want to reflect Jesus's heart to be honourable and show that even the smallest act of service can impact and improve another's life for good.
This wonderful idea got me thinking. What would our world look like if everyday we looked around us to see what kind of God promise we could fulfill for someone else? I promise to honour my husband, and how have I done that today? I promise to be a good neighbour, and have I even said hello to them in months? I promise to be a faithful friend, and then make excuses as to why I'm too busy to call. What would my life look like if I kept my promises and followed the example of God's everlasting promises?
I can't control what anyone else is going to do, if they will keep their promises or not. But I can do something about mine. I want to be known as a trustworthy person of integrity who keeps her promises. And so I ask you as well, what promises could you make today to put a smile on someone's face, brighten their day, and remind them there is hope?
It has to start somewhere so why not with us?
