Becoming a New Creature in Christ

"Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men" (Psm. 12:1). I really find it baffling why so many people find loyalty and faithfulness to be so difficult to maintain. The scripture plainly tells us what the born again experience is supposed to do for us: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). Being disloyal and unfaithful in our relationships with one another is NOT being a "new creature." Not being able to remain true to our words and our commitments with one another is a characteristic of the 'OLD man,' not the new man. When we commit ourselves to something in regard to another person, and it is a significant thing, there is simply no good reason to not follow through with what we have said we will do. God has certainly never been untrue to his words, or his commitments to us. Good thing for us, huh? How would it affect us if God decided to not honor his word that he has given us? To say it would be devastating would be an understatement of an immeasurable scale. So maybe we ought to give serious consideration as to how it affects someone if we fail our words and commitments that we have made to them. We should also be as James said, "slow to speak" on these kinds of things (Jas. 1:19). Too many people find it too easy to forget what they have said they will do, when it becomes more convenient and advantageous to do something that crosses out that commitment. Again I say, that is not a trait of someone who has been made a new [and faithful] creature in Christ.

If you want to know how God thinks about the matter, take a look at this passage of scripture: "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?" (Eccl. 5:4-6). Someone will no doubt say, "Well, that's talking about a commitment to God, not to man." Maybe we should consider that Jesus basically said it's the same thing, whether with men or with God: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Mat. 25:40). The beloved apostle concurred on the matter as well: "For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (I Jn. 4:20). It is certain that we are not "loving our brother" when we change on our words that we have committed to him, and he may be hanging on those words for dear life. This is certainly no minor issue, because this type of behavior can escalate to fulfill the sobering words of Jesus, regarding the end time: "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death" (Mat. 10:21). Broken commitments and altered words are not of love, and gender only to despite and disrespect of those to whom we are disloyal. I hope these few words will prevent someone from making this kind of mistake. It is a very big one. Amen.