What is my word worth?

This morning I read a passage about Abram (before he became Abraham) that impressed me. Not sure I ever saw it before.

The King of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ (Genesis 14:22-23)

I have been unable to get this out of my mind – not even a thread or the thong of a sandal.

Abram had made an oath and he was going to keep it to the nth degree.

Not one aspect of his decision was going to be shifted, blurred or bent. This attitude reminded me of Matthew 5:37: Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Made me think of the value of my word.

Can people trust my plans?

Do I cancel a lot? Am I indecisive? If I say I will be somewhere or do something, do the people in my life hold their breath until the last possible second to see if I will change my mind just seconds before the proverbial bell rings?

Can people trust my confidentiality?

Using the “thread or a thong of a sandal” mentality, I should not let one iota of a confidence leak. I don’t hint, elude or insinuate that I know anything about a matter (legal obligations or sin issues aside, of course).

Am I entirely honest to the nth degree?

What this means is, exaggeration has no place in me. I don’t embellish, add or include anything that hints at, eludes to or insinuates something untrue. How about honesty with my finances? Do I hide even one penny from my husband? You see, I know the games wives can play. We don’t want to show a purchase at a beauty store but we can hide a beauty item within the grocery store bill. Can my man look at absolutely every cent?

Can people count on me to live a life where I do not move, blur or bend even one part of my commitment?

And what about commitments to myself? The “decisions” I have made about taking care of myself, for example?

Moving on. Ahem.

What about commitments to my family? Here are some of the love commitments I have made: I married a man, birthed two children and adopted a third.

Can my love be trusted?

As I contemplate the character of God, He finishes everything He starts, and if He says something, I can bet my life on it. I will never pull that off that level of perfection but if the Holy Spirit lives inside of me (which He does) and I desire to reflect His character to the world (which I do), then my yeses and noes matter down to the thread and thong of a sandal level.

Been thinking about it all week. How credible is my word?

I wish I could ask everyone. I want to know the truth.

(Or maybe I don’t.)

Yes, I do. Even if it’s bad news, I want the opportunity to apologize and make things right again if I am able. If I can’t, I would at least like to continue forward as a more trustworthy human being.

Abram, made an oath to God. That’s what I did when I surrendered my life to God and decided to live for Him. Indirectly, everything mentioned in this post…every aspect of my life…concerns how I decide to live for His glory.

I want my word to be worth something; my decisions to mean something; my actions to speak something.

Picture Explanation: Dear ones that I love, may my word of commitment to each of you be as decisive as Abram declared in these verses, and may I carry out my word with the same level of precision. And happy 23 to my two oldest.

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