January 15, 2007
By Rachel Clark

 

“Here’s the kicker…” This is a line that you would normally hear when a person is trying to prove a point or make a statement of emphatic impression.

 

A daily routine is filled with the decision to make, keep, or fulfill a promise. A promise I made to my daughter, “Sure baby, let’s go to the park tomorrow.  How about in the afternoon…after your nap?” A promise made to the electric company, “I’ll balance my accounts and pay the bills in the morning”… A promise to my husband, “Sure honey, I’ll pick up the dry cleaning on my way home from work.” To my boss, “I’ll have that project done by mid-morning”…and another promise made and another and another…

 

Difficult Promises
“Here’s the kicker”…my days are filled with this juggling act of promising, fulfilling, or putting it off until another day. Yet before I know it, too many promises are made, too many things put off until the next day or the next, and things start to fall through the cracks.

 

I paid the electric bill.  I called the drycleaner and asked them if they were open in the morning, putting that task off until tomorrow. I called my friend, made the park date a play date on the weekend, not having enough time to keep my previous promise to her. As you can guess, I had to bribe my daughter to wait one more day until I had more time and I threw in playing with another friend at the park as the incentive.

 

Fast forward to Thursday evening. I’m in bed, covers pulled up, closing my eyes after I have finished talking what bits of the day I can remember to share with my spouse. The thought comes, “God, why are my days so stressful?I’m so sorry, I really meant to talk with You this morning. I know that I should have called “so-and-so” to check up on them. Why can’t I seem to get my daughter to be respectful. Lord, please forgive me, I’ll do it all right tomorrow.” The sad reality is it’s almost the end of the week, and I believe that because I’m a meticulous, good-hearted person that I just have a full life. Or is it that I have fallen into this trap of thinking this?

 

Is my life not what it should be and I am subconsciously trying to cover it with the excuses? Could I have used God a time or two to explain my hectic life?  Maybe lied to myself?  Lied to others?  I believe that this is actually more the truth, than, “I’m busy.”  The truth in the light of comparison between His expectations and what I do or commit to on a daily basis helps me realize it might be pride or trying to fulfill other’s expectations. Feeling good about being busy, it means I’m important, right?

 

And the line repeats itself in my head, “Here’s the kicker”…

 

Kicking Stumbling Blocks
One of the biggest stumbling blocks of a Christian today, and our society as well, is that we tend to overcommit and then we are unable to keep our word.  It has been said that people who tend to overcommit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They want people to like them so they offer to do things for them. Because they are over-extended, they are often unable to keep their all promises; thus they become dishonest. In business, it can also involve greed--more business means more money, even when they must work from a backlog that was promised to be on time.

 

God commands, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16).

 

Is that what we are basically doing?  What constitutes a lie according to the Bible?  Anything that is not the truth is a lie.  God’s Word is the standard or measuring rod we must use in determining truth.

 

Sadly, Christians are also succumbing to this epidemic of lying.  Lying to each other has now become commonplace.  I imagine it could safely be said that each of us, at some point, have had our trust in people undermined, in some cases even destroyed, because of deception. Even in the church…?

 

Reorganized Honesty
Back to me.  I’ve put down on paper, here for all to read, the little things, small promises made to my family, everyday tasks, and my daily devotions. Yet there are other things; there always are.  I’m afraid that since the Word says that I may not know my own heart, I could be overcommitted (agreed), prideful (hard to admit), and dishonest (this one actually hurts!). Jesus always kept His Word. God still keeps His Word and is faithful to keep every promise He has made. We are called to be like Him.

 

I take heart in this. I recognize, I repent, and I step up to the next day and expect to overcome.  It’s not the, “I’ll do it tomorrow” mentality.  I feel a shift.  His Word has pierced and divided.  I thank Him, I commit to honoring His Word, and mentally rearrange my day tomorrow, knowing that I will learn to use the word “no” and the phrase, “I have already committed to….”  It’s a start. God is working with the little bits of my flesh that I have chosen to confess, admit and give over to Him.

 

Flying Past Excuses
I read a quote by Mark Olson a while ago: “Flying by myself in a tiny aircraft over lonely woods: I have no one to blame if I make a bad judgment, and the laws of physics won't listen to my excuses. What would my life be like if I always had to take full responsibility?”

 

Here’s the kicker, I am not flying the airplane by myself, and I have decided that I want to know what my life would be like taking full responsibility, giving up my pride and asking God to be my pilot, learning to live more of my life by His flight plan.

 

ninetyandnine.com

 

© 2007, Rachel Clark
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Rachel Clark is God’s co-pilot.