He Kept, He Keeps, He Will Keep His Promise

With a Subtitle: God promised in eternity past to call you to Himself, and He keeps His word.

A brief Excerpt: Before you existed, God promised to call you to Himself, give you new life, and fill you with His Spirit. He kept that promise at Pentecost, and He keeps it still. Walk today by faith.

The Author is: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 2:39, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Background

The Firm was the first and probably most successful movie adaptation of a John Grisham novel. In it, Tom Cruise plays a young lawyer, Mitch McDeere, who gets hired by a shady law firm in Memphis. Before long, Mitch becomes aware of the questionable legal services his firm provides, but he also gets caught in the middle of the web. Because of a poor decision, his marriage then takes a hit, and his wife moves out. From that point on, Mitch’s entire focus is spent on exposing his firm and getting back his wife. And to do that, he had to do one particular thing. His wife Abby summed it up this way, “I have loved you my whole life, even before I met you. At first it was just the promise of you. But you have kept your promise; you could never lose me.” Mitch had to keep his promise. And it wasn’t just an ordinary promise; it was one made that went out beyond and before him. As a lawyer, he made a promise to himself, to all future clients, and to the public that he would behave a certain way. In order to expose the illegal dealings of his employer, while not compromising his status as an attorney, he had to walk very straight lines of commitment, even as his life was threatened, even as his marriage hung in the balance.

Application

Making a promise used to be a big deal. Before there were lawyers and contracts, there were handshakes and a person giving his word. There was honor and integrity. And before that, there was the Godhead, making a promise to people who did not yet exist, about people who did not yet exist. Somewhere in eternity past, God promised to call people to Himself, specific people who did not know Him nor of the promise. To those people He promised to give new life and fill them with Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. It began at Pentecost, and then Peter explained to those who were ignorant of the very promise God had made to them that He had something for them, too. He was keeping His word then, just as He did for you and me two thousand years later. He kept His promise, He keeps His promise, and He will keep His promise. On that I give my word.

Charge

As we seek Him today, believe the promise of God and live out your day by faith.