It Is Best Not To Make Promises To Anyone

I stopped making promises a long time ago. I usually say to people, "No promises," when agreeing to do anything. I know that I am a woeful sinner by nature; and therefore, I simply don't trust myself. Talk is cheap and promises are easily broken. NEVER trust a man who trusts himself! If you make a promise, woe unto you if you fail to honor that vow, especially to God.

When I attended Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993), I served Jesus voluntarily in the B' Bus Ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana (one of 114 existing church ministries at the time). One Saturday while working our bus route on Chicago's north side, I told some young boys who rode our bus that me and my soulwinning partner would try to come back later to take them for some cheeseburgers, but I told them: “NO PROMISES.”

Their father thanked me. He said many church bus workers had lied to his boys, making empty promises but then never delivered on them. I never forgot that exchange of words, and how good it made me feel that a father thanked me for not lying to his boys, simply because I prefaced my plan to come back to take them for some burgers later that day with the words: “NO PROMISES.”

Subsequently, I have been prefacing all my plans with “NO PROMISES” ever since, and I am glad that I do, because so oftentimes something comes up that prevents me from delivering on my agreed plans. OUR WORDS MATTER.

The heathen world lies all the time. President Vladimir Putin in Russia is a habitual chronic liar. While promising a peace treaty he ruthlessly continues to bomb Ukraine. Just this past week President Putin fired 700 deadly missiles into Ukraine, murdering many civilians. President Trump just days ago publicly described President Putin as “absolutely crazy” for bombing Ukraine during peace talks. So also is the Israeli government full of habitual liars, continually breaking their promises to the Palestinian people. The Bible foretold that such perilous times would come, when pathetic ungodly liars, trucebreakers and scoundrels would abound in societies (2nd Timothy 3:1-7). We are definitely living in perilous times today in 2025!

President Trump publicly this week described President Putin as “absolutely crazy” for bombing Ukraine during peace talks.

We all saw President Joe Biden last year in 2024 blatantly lie to the media, when he told the country that he would not pardon his son's multiple felony convictions for which he faced decades in prison. On his last day in office, President Biden pardoned his son of all crimes. Joe Biden and his son both belong behind bars for a very long time! Don't believe anyone who foolishly says that “no one is above the law,” because clearly there are many people who are above the laws of the United States.

The entire Bush administration got away Scot Free with the 9/11 attacks, which they orchestrated. The criminal Masonic controlled U.S. Justice Department refused to do anything about 9/11, letting the culprits go free. Now, over 20 years later when THE TRUTH has been buried under a deliberate mountain of media lies, disinformation and misinformation and tion, the U.S. Justice Department finally pretends to care. Now that the emotions have died down and hardly anyone cares anymore about 9/11, the Justice Departments acts. What a ruse! 

What a sick charade! If I, as a mortal finite human being can see through their evil charade, then I know that our omnipotent omniscient God certainly does! Thankfully, the inspired Holy Bible promises in Ecclesiastes 5:8 that there will ultimately be justice! Hell is coming up to get Bill Clinton and his evil wife, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and his evil father (who is already in Hell), Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, et cetera. They are devils who are above the law! But thankfully they cannot escape God's judgment (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

As God's redeemed children our words should matter. Our words should always be seasoned with grace, that we may be a blessing to others. God forbid that our words should ever discourage, hurt or cause someone to quit church or stray further from God. Our words can be as deadly bullets fired from a gun, which once fired cannot be retrieved. OUR WORDS MATTER! I won't make any promises to anyone, especially not to the Lord. I may promise to do my best, but I always leave room for my predictable unpredictable flawed humanity. Since I know that I am a woeful sinner (and so are you friend), and since I know that Jeremiah 17:9 warns that the human heart is DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL ELSE, I won't trust my heart!

I will trust in the Lord, who never changes (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8), but I refuse to trust in myself, knowing that I am a sinner prone to change, forgetfulness and weakness. God only expects us as humans to do the best we can in His strength. The Lord fully knows that we are made of dust, mere flesh. Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” That Bible verse was Pastor Jack Hyles' mother's (Coystal Mattie Hyles, 1887-1984) favorite passage of Scripture, and I likewise love this comforting verse. God understands better than anyone that we are mere clumps of clay, prone to weakness and sin. God has made a way of escape through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus. Romans 5:8-9, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”

To God alone be the glory.