Honour Your Commitments

On Saturday, August 24^th, my husband woke me up and announced to me that the page-views on the blog passed the 10,000 mark overnight. My jaws literally dropped as I shouted, "Hallelujah!"

In less than two years of blogging, I've had visitors from almost 100 countries. From the statics, I could see how often visitors come to the blog and what they are reading. As my husband later wrote to me; "Can you imagine a few years ago that you will be sitting in a (little) corner in Geneva (from my dining table and hospital room to be precise), with all the limitations of not being able to move about freely the way you desired, that you will reach people from all walks of life, from all the continents of the world…" This is simply God's handiwork and it is marvelous in our sight. I give Him the glory.

I thank all of you who visit here and who have made my blogging experience an exciting one. I pray that your experience here will continue to be enriching and a blessing to you as it has been a blessing for me to share this space with you. I made a commitment to share with you weekly. With the exception of the times that I have been seriously indisposed, God has given me the grace and strength to keep to this commitment.

God Keeps His Promises:

Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled (Josh 21:45, 23:14 NIV), exactly, precisely, and punctually.  All his promises, no matter how many, in Christ are yea and amen (1Cor 1:20). That is why we can depend on Him and that is what gives us hope through daily life’s challenges. We know He will do what He says He will do. Indeed, there is no one like our covenant keeping God. We can always rely on God and trust Him to keep His commitment to us.

As children of a covenant keeping God and beneficiaries of His unfailing love, grace and mercy, to what extent do we reflect this character trait in our day-to-day lives in general and in our relationships in particular? Are you a faithful promise keeper? God expects us to keep every promise and vow we make (Numbers 30:2, Eccl. 5:4-5 and Ps. 89:34).

Marriage - A Test of Commitment:

Marriage is an example of one of the areas where we are called to honour our commitment. It is good to recall once in a while what we promised before God and our host of families and friends on our wedding day. The promise you made to each other is a commitment for life. The passage of time does not change or erase this solemn vow.

My parents-in-law, Mr & Mrs Sylvester and Maria Olumese (Papa and Mama as I fondly call them) celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary on August 24^th, 2013. In the over 23 years since I have known them, I have observed them show utmost respect to one another. So many times I hear Papa say: "Hold on for my wife", "Talk to my wife", "My wife is here"…. It is always incredible to hear him refer to his wife with such tenderness.

Not once in all the years I have known them have I heard them argue or disagree openly in front of the children. And I am sure they do have disagreements. Mama has displayed a deep commitment to taking care of all of us, her daughters and daughters-in-law, when we have our babies. She spends one month with us, taking care of us and our home. I tell you, it is a blissful one month post-delivery. You don’t want her to leave, but after one month, she is going home to her husband, saying "he is alone at home with the dogs."

I give praise to God for blessing my life with such exemplary couple who continue to hold fast to their commitment to one another 50 years after exchanging their vows of faithfulness and fidelity. I bless God for them.

God remains faithful in all seasons and through all seasons. We can count on God’s faithfulness in every season we go through. His faithfulness endures to all generations, it never ceases, and it never fails. His faithfulness is an essential and integral part of Who He is (Ps 89:1, 8).

The vows we share on our wedding day are a reflection of the commitment we make to each other: "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part".

The vows covers all life's changing situations, it dictates remaining committed to one another through all the changing seasons of life, good times and bad times. There is usually no difficulty in loving and staying together in good times, the challenge comes during the bad times, during the storm, when trust breaks down and when one fails the other. This is when the true strength of our commitment to our vows is tested.

I am sure that Papa and Mama in the 50 years of their marriage have been visited by the different seasons reflected in their wedding vows and today, we can testify that they have remained committed to each other through these changing seasons.

Let me come closer home and share a little about my dear husband:

If my husband is well and in town, you can be sure that he will be at the choir practice on Saturday. I have learnt over the years not to plan any event that does not include the choir members on a Saturday afternoon. Until about a year ago, when I had to plead that choir members should have one Saturday a month to spend with their families, you can be sure to find me alone on Saturday evenings, especially when both of my sons were also members of the choir. Such has been the degree of  the commitment of this my passionate bass guitarist to the church choir!

Watching him from my back corner seat on Sunday mornings playing his heart out on the bass guitar always touch my heart and assures me of his deep commitment to serving the Lord with the gift God has blessed him with.

Another area where my husband has displayed a deep level of commitment is in our marriage. I can truly tell you that we have been visited with seasons of for better and for worse, we have known seasons of in sickness and in health and seasons of for richer and for poorer in the 21+ years of our marriage. I struggled with my health for twenty out of these twenty-one years,

My husband faithfully stood by me through the rough seasons of sickness and ill-health to the extent that, one day in the midst of a very difficult and challenging period, I had to ask him if he ever regretted marrying me. The look he gave me before he responded with a resounding; NO, suggested that I needed to have my head examined! I am truly blessed to have this amazing man as my husband!

Commitment in the Marketplace:

What a massive difference it would make if every Bible-believing Christian will honour their commitment in their workplace or in the market place.

• Imagine we keep our promise to deliver what we say we would when we say we would.
• Imagine we give our best to be productive both in quality and quantity, irrespective of the environment where we work or whether we are acknowledged or not.
• Imagine that we honour the commitment we made when we signed our contracts and commit to being conscientious and hardworking.

We will stand out as people with exemplary work ethics who honours God in their work by keeping their promises. For a while, my husband worked in a very toxic and discouraging work environment. He is not a big story teller but what he shared when he came back home was heart-rending. He endured this situation for almost two years. The boys and I gave him all the support and encouragement we could muster. Above all, we prayed constantly for him. He made a choice to continue to give his best to his work irrespective of the injustice being done him.

Earlier this month, one of his projects, a publication that was strongly opposed made the front page in the organization's website and is now a reference point. Each time, I look back to those dark days, I just simply bless God for giving him the grace and the strength to hold true to his commitment to work as unto God in his workplace despite the opposition.

Are you a faithful promise keeper who honours his/her commitment in every sphere of life where God has given you influence? This is a call for you to examine the degree to which you are committed to the vows you made on your wedding day and the degree to which you are maintaining a godly work ethics at the workplace or in the marketplace.

How well are you representing God in your relationships at home, at work and in the marketplace? Remember that you are standing as God's representative in every area of influence God has given you.

In writing this blog post, I have used excerpts from three articles I wrote earlier:

 - Promise Keepers, July 15^th, 2011

 - Faithful Through The Seasons, August 5^th, 2011

 - Marriage is a Covenant (2), Sept 2^nd, 2011

It was illuminating and encouraging to read these articles over again. I think they are worth sharing again.

I pray that the Lord will illuminate your understanding as you meditate on the core message of this article. Will you determine to recommit to being men and women of integrity, who honour their commitments? God bless you richly.