Jesus said this about marriage in Mark 10:6-9 “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”  God joins the man and the woman together and does not want them to separate. When a man and a woman are married, they typically make vows to each other in front of witnesses.  Vows often contain words such as “I take this man/woman to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, as long as we both shall live.”  A marriage with strong vows is a commitment that a man and woman make to each other that is typically witnessed by family and friends.  But as time goes on in a marriage, problems occur between the husband and wife. One or both of the partners may forget the vows they have taken and the commitment that they have made to each other; the result may be a divorce.

God has made a commitment to us.  The new covenant that God made with us is found in Hebrews 8:10-12 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” A summary of the important points of our covenant with God is that He will put His laws in our minds and hearts, He will be our God, we will be His people, we will know the Lord, He will be merciful to our unrighteousness and will not remember our sins.  This is a wonderful and powerful commitment that God has made to us. 

Let us look at some of the other commitments that God has made to us. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we confess our sins, He has committed to forgive us and cleanse us. Hebrews 13:5b-6 “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” God has made a commitment to never leave or forsake us; He is our helper in life.  Jesus said in John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Jesus has made a commitment to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house where we can be with them forever. There are other promises and commitments that God has made to us.  Whatever promises and commitments He has made to us, He will keep.  Hebrews 6:17-19a “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” God does not lie but keeps his commitments to us.  We can trust in God.

As a Christian, you have made a commitment to God. Romans 6:1-7 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”  When you were buried in baptism, it symbolized your willingness to die to sin. How can you live in sin any longer? You made a commitment to God to live for Him.  You confessed Jesus as Lord and believed that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  I encourage you to keep the commitment to have Him Lord of your life.

All vows you make to God, you should be careful to keep.  Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 “When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed — better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?”  You need to keep whatever you have committed to God.

I suppose there are many lesser commitments that you make in life.  You promise to meet someone at a specific time.  Or you promise to give something to someone or do something for them.  There are lots of things that you can promise. Are you a person of your word?  Do you keep your commitments?  Can you be trusted?

I encourage you to keep the commitments that you have made, especially your commitments to God.  If you are married, keep your commitment to your spouse.  Be a person that is known for keeping your word.