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Making Promises to God | Must I Keep The Promises I Made?

I fell away from God and suffered for it. So, in my pain and desperation I promised God that if he would bring me back I would keep my life as simple as possible. I promised to be a bank teller and I also promised him I would be single. So do you think that I am bound by these promises (bank teller and staying single) I made to God in my desperation? Do you think it is accurate to say that Christians should not be in the business of making promises to God of this type?

In answer to your question, Jesus said:

“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew 5:33-37).

Making Promises to God May Be Foolish

There are two principles being taught in this passage. First, there is the principle of not making vain/empty oaths. The idea is that we should not rashly commit ourselves to a promise that we have no intention of keeping. We should not be making promises to God that are empty, or to anyone, for that matter. It is better not to make any commitment at all, than to make a commitment that we do not intend on keeping, or that we do not know whether we can keep or not. Making rash promises usually gets us into difficult situations that we wish we would not have got ourselves into, but that doesn’t mean that we may get out of those situations by going back on our promise.

The second principle that Jesus sets forth is that we should keep the promises that we make. If we say we are going to do something, then we should do it. We should stick with the things to which we commit and we should also stay with the things to which we say “no.” This is hard to do, but it is doable and God expects it out of us.

The principle to which we ought to always commit ourselves when speaking regarding the future is found in James 4:15, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” Our attitude toward future events ought to be that we don’t know what the future holds for us and we depend upon God to get us through. It is sufficient enough for us to worry about today’s events according to Matthew 6:34.

There are some commitments we make in life that we are expected to honor throughout our entire life, such as faithfulness to our spouses (Matthew 19:6) and to our children (Ephesians 6:4). However, we honor these commitments based upon the will of the Lord, not based upon our own whims.

The bottom line in your case is that you have to examine for yourself the commitment you made to God. If you were honest and sincere about that commitment that you made, then you ought to keep it, regardless of what comes your way. If you TRULY promised to live this certain life, then you need to stick with it 100%. Only you can answer that question.

You might also think about your motives for why you are wanting to “get out” of these “promises” that you made. One additional verse which might help you think about your situation; Hebrews 13:15 in the ASV says this “Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.” Are you content with simply having God in your life? If you are, then what need do you have for these other things that you desire? We need to ask why we are making promises to God. Why not simply obey His Word?