“We should grab lunch sometime!”

In some places, this phrase means exactly what it sounds like— the person you’re talking to wants to have lunch with you. In Southern California, however, it’s generally understood that “let’s grab lunch” is something everyone says but few people follow through with.

Now this is a harmless cultural quirk, but other well-intended pledges lead to disappointment when not fulfilled. Has anyone ever stood you up? Said they’d call but never did? Promised to take you someplace special but never got around to it?

Being on the other end of someone’s broken promise hurts. We might even start to question our own self-worth as a result: maybe I did something wrong, maybe they found someone better, maybe I’m just forgettable.

This is terribly tragic because those of us who make and break promises aren’t trying to hurt people… so why do we do it?

“Peter replied, ‘If everyone else stumbles because of you, I’ll never stumble.’ Jesus said to him, ‘I assure you that, before the rooster crows tonight, you will deny me three times.’ Peter said, ‘Even if I must die alongside you, I won’t deny you.’” (Matthew 26:33-35 CEB).

It seems that Peter, who still had a lot to learn at this point, was too proud to even consider that he might falter amid Jesus’ arrest and subsequent crucifixion. His reactionary promise to be loyal even unto death suggests that he was more concerned with being perceived as devout than actually walking the path of devotion to the Lord.

If I’m being honest, I can relate.

I want people to think well of me, so my temptation is to make verbal commitments without fully thinking through what I’m promising. But giving into said temptation hurts those I mean to love and leaves me with a general feeling of emptiness, like a cloud that fails to produce rain.

The good news for all the Peters and Justins of the world is that God remains faithful even when we don’t. As long as we follow Jesus we will never run out of fresh examples of someone who keeps his promises.

Dear Lord, thank you for being a God we can trust, for doing what you say you will do, for filling us with a hope that will never disappoint. Help us to reflect your faithfulness by keeping our promises. In Jesus’ matchless name we pray, Amen.