The Pinky Promise

How many times have we given the Pinky Promise to guarantee our word to someone?  A Pinky Promise is entwining of the little fingers ("pinkies") of two people to signify that a promise has been made. In some aspects the Pinky Promise can be a very cute gesture. As a matter of fact there is actually a Pinky Promise Movement out there for women that promotes honoring God with your life & body whether single or married. Sounds like an amazing movement to be a part of, yet there are still other aspects of the pinky promise.  My husband and I have one that we swore to years ago that still holds strong today, but the truth is that the promise holds strong not because we entwined pinkies but because our hearts desired to be truthful to our word.

 

What would happen if we made a Pinky Promise and didn't keep it? I doubt unless your dealing with the Mafia that you would lose the pinky. The promise is not attached to the pinky, but it is attached to the words we speak. I don't believe making promises is a good idea to begin with. Making a promise is basically trying to convince the other person that your words hold true. In Matthew 5 the scripture tells us to let our yes be yes and our no be no. I believe if our hearts desires are pure before God then we should allow our words to stand alone and if we are known by our fruits and our fruits are ripe then our words should be trusted. Now, there will be many times that you give your word fully indenting on keeping it and things happen to create confusion and you forget. That's all a part of life. Then there are those who make way to many promises because they want to be trusted or relied upon but they know ahead of time that they can't fulfill those promises. I myself have done that over and over again in my past.

 

It reminds me of Paul in the Book of Romans where he talks about wanting to do what is right but ends up doing what he didn't want to do. Romans 7:15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.  Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.....  When we walk in the flesh and not in the Spirit we tend to allow ourselves to get in the way of what God wants for us and we know what He wants is for us to always be true to who we are in Him. What I found to be easier was to stop making promises all together. I chose to make a conscience decision to keep my word. We have to decide that we want to be known by the fruits of the tree of life not death. To be known as the one who speaks life not death, good not evil, to allow our yes be yes and our no be no. To be trusted without the entwining of fingers but by the words we speak and the actions we take to back up those words. Be a doer of your word and follow through with your yes. In the Kingdom of God we are looked upon with almost an x-ray vision from the rest of the world and they look for us to renege on our promises, on our words. So if we stay true to who we are in Christ and we allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit and taught by the Word of God then we will naturally be trusted by the words we speak and not the actions of a Pinky Promise.

 

 

                           Karen Hurl

                                                                                                     1/07/2016