A Patient Keeper of Promises

 

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

—2 Peter 3:9

Twenty-eight years ago, an Evangelical Christian organization was formed with the name “Promise Keepers.” Quoting a portion of the entry on Wikipedia:

Promise Keepers was founded in 1990 by Bill McCartney, then the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder.

According to the group’s website, McCartney got the inspiration for Promise Keepers on March 20, 1990, during a conversation with Dave Wardell, while both were attending a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet in Pueblo, Colorado.

He envisioned his home stadium, Boulder's Folsom Field, would be used as a gathering “…for training and teaching on what it means to be godly men.”

In July 1990, 72 men met at Boulder Valley Christian Church in Boulder to organize what would be Promise Keepers’ first event at University of Colorado’s Event Center. From that point, the Promise Keepers’ membership gradually grew.

By the time of the first official PK conference in July 1991, approximately 4,200 attended. The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit in the state of Colorado in December 1990.

Someone you know may have attended a Promise Keeper’s rally. Whether the organization was fully effective in reaching its goal could be debated. But, for a time at least, it had a significant and prominent influence on behalf of the Kingdom of God.

There are certainly great advantages for Christian men who keep their promises to God and to others. But, they were not the first true promise keepers. Notice what the Apostle Peter writes, as recorded in 2 Peter 3:9:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

God is a promise-keeping God. And, He is not at all slow about doing so. In addition, as this verse explains, God is very patient with those that He has chosen to belong to Himself.

As we begin another day, it is good for us to remember how loving, patient, and kind our God is toward us. And, because He is a promise-keeping God, we can become promise-keeping people.

Let’s determine to strive for that goal this day. It would be very good if Christians all over the world were known as promise-keeping people.

 

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