Question: Hey! I have a question I have been wanting to know for awhile now and I was wondering if you could answer it? Okay, so does God still love you and forgive you even if you have made a promise to stop committing a certain sin but then you break that promise? Will he still love and forgive you after you’ve broken that promise and you still keep making the same mistakes?
Answer: I suppose we could ask ourselves if we would still love our child after he or she promises over and over to stop doing something wrong. And even if we would answer yes, we would have to recognize that God’s love for us is even greater than a parent’s love for his child. I like the passage in Psalm 103:13,14, which says, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
It is Jesus who taught us that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) in order to have as perfect a love as the Father has (verse 48). And Paul tells us that when we were still God’s enemies, still sinners, God proved His love for us by letting Jesus die for us (Romans 5:8). And Jesus taught Peter that if someone sins against him seventy-seven times he must forgive that person. So it is impossible that God would not do as well or better than what He instructs us to do. In fact, Romans 8 makes it perfectly clear that for the one who has trusted in Jesus for salvation there is no condemnation (8:1) and that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love (8:37-39).
We are perfectly safe in God’s love. But because He loves us so much and because we love Him in return, we want to experience obedience to Him as a token of our love. And we want to trust Him that the commands He has given us are for our own protection and welfare. So when we recognize that our own promises to do better fail it might be time to try some additional aids to obedience. For example, it may be that a trusted counselor could help you see a pattern to your disobedience and help you break that pattern. Or it might be helpful to have someone to whom you are accountable and who will pray for you and encourage you toward obedience. Or it might be useful to memorize some Scriptures that pertain to the particular disobedience you are struggling with. Or all of the above.
God longs for us to have freedom in our conscience before Him. That is why Jesus came (Hebrews 9:14; 10:22). That is why we can come to His throne boldly whenever we have need and find grace (Hebrews 4:16).
One of our elders wisely added this thought on Facebook:
[William Robert Berry] If I read (and believe) 1st John 1: 9, … He will
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as one who has promised broke that promise sufffered a stroke thinking i had made god angry at me only to realise that god knew id break that promise befor i even made it yes he still loves me just as christ still loved peter even after he denied him 3 times
I made a promise to god that im not gonna smoke cigarrete anymore, so i did for almost 2 yrs and honestly i am not a smoker im just playing of it… But then at the party my 6 yr old boy, try to stop him not running around and he didnt listen to me, so i feel mad and tense and i ask my friend if she have a cigarrete and she give me one stick, and after i smoke the cigarette i toldto my friend that I made a promise to god not to smoke anymore, until now, just cant sleep, and scared that god will punishme and never forgive me… Please help me, i feel so guilty and scared if god mad at me!
The reason God wanted you to quit is because it is very unhealthy to smoke. He loves you. NO, He doesn’t want you to promise something and then break that promise, but He is more than willing to forgive you. Wouldn’t you be willing to forgive your son if he promised never to run around again but then in a moment of forgetfulness or excitement did it again? Of course you would and so does our loving heavenly Father want to forgive us when we come to Him and tell Him we are sorry.
Hello, what would happen if one made two contradictory promises which one would he keep? Please help me
Assuming both promises were in agreement with the revealed will of God in Scripture, or not contradictory to it, I suppose you would keep the one that brought the most advantage to the most people and the most honor to God. Then I suppose you would learn not to make promises unless you know you can keep them.