Pastor's Corner: Commitment

We celebrated a wedding at Abundant Life recently.  The bride and groom wrote their own vows, and I was very impressed with the promises they made to each other.  One statement in particular has been rolling around in my head since then. Here’s my recollection of what was said: “This is not a promise of contentment but of commitment.”

That statement expresses a level of maturity and understanding that I admire. In this case, the bride was the speaker.  She apparently recognizes that life in general and marriage in particular has its ups and downs.  No matter what’s happening or how I’m feeling, I will be here.  And I recognize I am responsible for my own attitudes, feelings, level of contentment, choices, etc.  I can’t promise that you, my soon-to-be spouse, will be content.  I will love you, pray for you and contribute what I can to your happiness, but you will be responsible for your own attitudes, choices, and so forth.  In fairness to the groom, he made similar promises; it just so happened that the wording above prompted me to ponder the issues in depth.

For some reason, the bride’s choice of words also reminded me of the wording, “thereto I plight thee my troth.”  No one uses this vow at weddings anymore because it is archaic, and few people have a clue what it means.

With understanding, though, it becomes a powerful promise.  So, what is a troth and how do I plight it? Troth actually means truth, faithfulness, loyalty, fidelity, a promise, or one’s word.  And plight in this context means to pledge or to bind.  

We make these vows in all seriousness and sincerity, but a person of faith usually recognizes that he or she is promising something that will be hard to deliver, especially if one is relying on his or her own strength to carry it out.  That’s why we pray so much at weddings!  Seriously, we recognize that we need God’s grace, power, mercy, love, and other forms of help to take us where we want to go. 

Thankfully, He is the ultimate expert on faithfulness and commitment, in marriage and in all other areas of life.  The Bible began with a marriage.  God the Matchmaker put Adam and Eve together.  And the Bible ends with a marriage.  “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife [bride] has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7). And in between, especially in Chapter 5 of Ephesians, we see that God wants an earthly marriage to be a picture of the love and commitment between Jesus and the Church. 

The Bible is also full of verses about God’s faithfulness.  In Psalm 89, for example, His faithfulness is mentioned at least 6 times in the New King James version.  Or consider just a few of the scriptures concerning the faithfulness of Jesus:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17).

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

These few examples are probably sufficient to drive home the point.  But here’s the kicker:   If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Jesus has made a commitment to us, one that He sealed with His own blood shed on the cross. He will never waver, never falter, never go back on His word, never stop loving us.  We can rely on His faithfulness, and He will gladly help us remain faithful in the commitments we make. 

So, the next time you attend a wedding, maybe you will be prompted to think about the vows that are shared and see some of them as a picture of God’s great love and faithfulness toward you.  Special prayers and blessings for the bride and groom whose wedding prompted these thoughts.  You know who you are!

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Vicki Barrows

Abundant Life Ministries