“To keep one’s promise until the end.” Have you ever thought of keeping your promise to someone? Perhaps, the banality was so trivial that it wasn’t thought of for more than a moment until the person you promised to turned the corner. Or perhaps, it was more serious, a promise kept, yet forgotten in the scores of other promises not kept. Or maybe still, it was a promise that was thought to be honored but with time, it grew lacking in its strength and washed away in the unfolding of life’s idiosyncrasies. Some promises are more serious. For example, there is a certain judicial component which, if broken, has due consequence. Hence, the promise is met with a certain obligation but not necessarily, a desire to fulfill. Other promises are ones of affection, a promise of love toward another, until, sadly, a “better one” comes along (a promise, I mean). Promises are made to be broken, says the great adage, but are they? After all, a promise strongly suggests that one keeps one’s word. But, truthfully, words are in a sad state of affairs these days and often go by the wayside with such rapidity. Are promises sometimes forced upon another? Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. Some promises demand satisfaction. For example, if one is to be betrothed in certain cultures, the promise is honored and dare not be broken without dire action taken. In sum, promises come in all shapes and sizes, but so don’t words. See, promises entail wordage that begets trust and faith in an action which, if not met, results in betrayal. For example, one promises to pay back a debt owed, yet it never comes to pass, leaving bitterness and resentment towards the offended party and shame upon the other. Should one go throughout life without making a single promise for fear that one just simply may not meet up with their end of the bargain because, quite frankly, one just doesn’t care enough to honor the tenets of the promise in the first place. After all, it’s just a promise.
In my recollection, I became party to a promise, one which, to this very day, gives me great hope and admiration because the promise is still being kept nearly 16 years later. No, this is not about a friendship, although, in some ways, it’s exactly about a friendship. It was one of those promises that was made on the spur of the moment. Other promises has been made, but this one was different. This wasn’t a promise to each other, but to someone very dear to us. This promise was crafted in humility, as if God, Himself, had placed the thought between us and once unveiled, it could not be undone. The promise was set in motion and all at once it was deemed inevitable that it would come to fruition and, to fruition it came. The promise grew from its infancy stages to what it is today, a masterful work of art. The debt of gratitude owed to the one who came before us is immeasurable and the promise is eternal in the sense that as long as we participate in it, it will thrive because God ordained that it would. There are too many instances where we could have failed, yet it was not meant to be and the promise flourished in all its grandeur and beyond our wildest imaginations. See, the promise was for someone else’s dream, not ours. That original dream had been broken and we took it upon ourselves to rescue it and bring it back to its rightful glory. Now, that’s a promise kept.
That is one example of what a promise should look like. A promise kept. However, there’s another story that speaks to a much greater promise. The promise God made with us through His Son, Jesus. This promise, covenant or testament affirms God’s promise to reconcile the sinfulness of humanity with Himself. After all, God created us in His image. He loves us more than we love ourselves. The problem lies in sin. We chose to turn away from God and go at it our own way. Since God is just and holy, He couldn’t just let us “slide,” so He sent His Son to become man so that He could die in our place, bear our sin, reconcile us to the Father, and be with Him forever in heaven. That is God’s promise for all those who would freely choose His Son as Lord and Savior. The choice is ours. The promise is His. God won’t go back on His promise because God doesn’t lie. He’s holy, set apart, and good. Once God promises something, It’s for eternity. He never changes. This is the kind of promise one can count on. As a matter of fact, as a Christian, God expects those promises made by His disciples to be kept as well. This is called the process of sanctification. As we incline toward holiness, we are less inclined toward sin. It’s a lifelong process but God takes it very seriously. And that, is a promise. “Morir en la Raya” means God’s faithful promise to us is eternal. If one would so choose, come and partake of His promise.