When you make a promise to another person, you should keep it. We can all agree on that. When someone has made you a promise and breaks it, we can all agree that you will feel justifiably wronged and betrayed. When a friend or family member betrays us or even an acquaintance, our typical response is anger and mistrust in future dealings with that person. We might even shy away from him or her and refuse to enter into any future agreements. Should we forgive, should we forget? Those are issues of the heart that we must dig deep to work out with God.
But what if the broken promise occurs in a business transaction where there is a contract? How does God feel about that? The Bible has much to say about covenants and oaths. He equates the level we honor our covenants and oaths with the level of our own honor and integrity.
No one wants to enter into a business contract with a party who is dishonorable and lacks integrity. You have the right to disengage in business transactions with that person. And certainly, you don’t want to have a reputation for being dishonorable in your business transactions. It hurts you and it hurts your business and it could, ultimately, affect your position in your company. It could also cost you and/or your business a lot of money if you breach a contract.
God sees the breaking of oaths and covenants as sin. When we make an oath, a covenant, a promise, He expects us to keep it. If we made a mistake in entering into that contract in the first place, He expects us to keep our promise anyway, no matter how uncomfortable, and, with integrity, honor the covenant we have made. There may be consequences to our ignorance in entering into the contract, but we are not given permission to breach it.
God takes promises seriously. Do you? Can you think of an example of a time a promise was breached? Were you able to rebuild that relationship?
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