Restoring Kingdom Builders

Several weeks ago – my next-to-the-last day in Phoenix – I drove over to the Dodger camp in Glendale for one last look at spring training before moving to California.

While the fans lined the ropes hoping that a Dodger player might stop and autograph a ball for them, I spotted two men walking through the crowd: Don Mattingly, Yankee legend and current Dodger manager, and Peter Gammons, Hall of Fame sportswriter.

While Don Mattingly was once a household name, Peter Gammons is known mostly to baseball fans.  For years, he offered commentary on baseball matters on ESPN and now works for the Major League Baseball Network.  He’s been named Sportswriter of the Year three times.

As you can see from this photo, there weren’t many people around yet that day.  One fan asked Gammons for his autograph (not Mattingly) and Gammons used the timeworn phrase, “I’ll get you later.”

Now if I was Gammons, I probably wouldn’t have stopped, either.  After all, he was walking with Mattingly – probably preparing to do a report on the Dodgers – and he wanted to keep the conversation going.  Fair enough.

But when Gammons did return – this time, walking with a Dodger minor league coach – he was once again asked for his signature, only this time he didn’t stop and sign as he had promised to do – he just kept going into the Dodger clubhouse.

It would have taken Peter Gammons less then ten seconds to sign something for the gentleman who requested his signature – and I doubt if a mob would have ensued afterwards.  The man asking would probably never see Gammons again.

But I’m not trying to jump on Gammons – after all, I didn’t request his signature – but on the casual way we make and break promises.

How many of you have had someone make one of the following promises to you recently?

“I’ll drop that in the mail today.”

“I’ll call you back by tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be home by six.”

“I’ll pick up your medicine on the way home.”

“I’ll be there at ten o’clock sharp.”

“I’ll pray for you as you visit the doctor.”

We make casual promises to each other all the time, don’t we?

We give others – often members of our family – assurances that they are important to us and that we’ll come through for them.

But what happens when we don’t come through as promised?

When my kids were small, I did everything in my power to keep my promises to them.  If they could learn to trust me, I figured, then maybe they could learn to trust their teachers, their employers, their pastors … and their God.

I don’t know how many promises I didn’t keep.  (I hope it wasn’t many.)  But I tried to keep every one I made … and made as few as possible so I could remember them all.

In The Message, Jesus says this in the Sermon on the Mount:

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean…. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it … Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’  When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.”

It’s especially important for Christian leaders to keep their promises.  For example, if a pastor wants to avoid conflict with churchgoers, then he needs to follow through with these promises:

“I’ll stop over and see your mother in the hospital later today.”

“I’ll bring a report to the meeting next week.”

“I’ll bring that book you asked about on Sunday.”

“I promise I’ll spend some time in prayer for your family.”

“I will see you for lunch tomorrow at 11:45.”

Keep your promises … and your credibility goes up.

Start breaking them … and watch your trust level go south.

Let me encourage everyone reading this to make fewer promises but to keep the ones you make.

Most of us do not have Alzheimer’s.

And when we realize we’ve broken a promise, we need to admit it, apologize for it, and then make good on that promise at the first opportunity.

I’m sure that Peter Gammons didn’t mean to break his promise to that fan.  He probably just forgot.

And we’ll forget our promises sometimes, too.

But if we want others to trust us … and we want our word to mean something … let’s keep the promises we make.

After all, where would we be if God did not keep His promises to us?