Higher Octane – Promise Keeper

This weekend, I took some much needed rest at the beach. Here’s a devotional I wrote during our church’s study of Galatians 3. Keep shiftin’.

I traveled to DC years ago to the big Promise Keepers event, Stand in the Gap. Promise Keepers and Coach Mac made an impression on me. I saw men willing to sacrifice their machismo to show their devotion to God. They took God’s desires seriously: love our families the way He loved us, and carry out His ministry of reconciliation. That ministry did not remove all my troubles or turn me into a super-powered keeper of promises. But I’m glad God models promise keeping to us – especially as we see him keep promises he made in Genesis fulfilled in the New Testament.

This chapter of Galatians ties together some of the Abrahamic covenant ideas that we read about in Genesis with our new covenant in Christ. One thing that strikes me immediately: God did keep his promises to Abraham, and we (and the Galatians) get to enjoy the inheritance that results. Paul wanted these Jewish Christians to know that in Christ, they have the blessings God has meant for them all along. That last verse in chapter 3: “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed (descendants), and heirs according to the promise.”

It’s great to take a moment and remember the simple truth that God kept his promises. To us, and to them. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of all the Father’s promises. When life seems hard and things go wrong, we can remember and trust the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob…and Jesus! Our job as believers is to believe. We cannot add one cubit to our height, one minute of time to our lives, or build anything that God needs. Our work is to believe in a promise-keeping God.