The promise

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. – 1 John 2.24-25

I try not to make promises. I really tried not to promise things to my children and I try not to promise things to my grandchildren. I advise people not to make promises.

Promises are serious. We need to be careful about making them, especially in situation like with our kids, because we don’t know what is going to happen. We may very well have to break promises. I did make a promise on 21 January 1978 when I promised to love and be faithful to my wife till we are separated by death. There are promises we can make, but we need to be careful.

God, on the other hand, is the perfect promiser. His promises will always be fulfilled. And God makes loads of promises. There is even at least one book titled ‘All the Promises of the Bible.’

This verse speaks of the most precious promise of all – ‘this is the promise he has promised us – eternal life.’

I love this verse as a verse of security. God promised that if I accepted Christ as my Saviour He would give me eternal life. Now, to my simple mind, if God promised me eternal life it is eternal life. It is not a promise that says ‘I will give you eternal life as long as you keep earning it.’

I am glad I can have confident in the Perfect Promiser. If my eternal depending on my daily worth I would never be able to keep it. But I have eternal life because the great Promise Keeper promised it to me. And my God keeps His promises.