Do What You Promised To Do; Finish What You Start

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Do What You Promised To Do; Finish What You Start

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As a long-time pastor and administrator, I'm regularly asked to give a few words of advice to young people. Based on my experience over the years, parents often ask me to write success pointers to a graduating son or daughter.

It's a privilege to have this opportunity, and I take it seriously. What do I traditionally offer?

What I've advised more than anything is the title of this column: Do what you promised to do; finish what you start. It's simple enough. And, if practiced, I have found time and again that this important character trait will gain you much favor with your peers, superiors, and even friends.

Perhaps you can relate. How many times have you become annoyed (or worse) with someone who was to meet you at a particular time or finish an assignment, only to be met with excuses, forgetfulness, misunderstanding and hard luck stories? With some, this becomes an irritating pattern of how they perform. Thus, a reputation is formed. I readily admit that with me, this type of reputation sometimes becomes the basis of my wishing to distance myself from such a person. Why? Self-protection. It's because of their unreliable performance habits that distracts, delays, and even hurts the work I'm doing. They don't follow through. They create extra work and unnecessary stress.

Thankfully we have a perfect example to follow. We can be profoundly thankful that one of God's powerful traits is His unwavering and reliable commitment to what He's doing in your life. As the apostle Paul writes, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6, New International Version, emphasis added throughout).

We can be thankful for this critical and personal truth: God is focused on making you a success as you cooperate with Him. We have the unbreakable biblical promise that He won't become distracted and "forget" about you, even as He may appear to move on to what may seem more pressing matters.

What I value in people with whom I work is their demonstrated commitment to a task and bringing it to completion. What about you? I experience great satisfaction in seeing a promise made and fulfilled.

In Jesus' parable of the two sons, He makes this point clear:

"A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to Him, 'The first'" (Matthew 21:28-31).

I invite you to consider this advice about how you may relate to others. It's biblical and practical and can help you sharpen your relationships and work.

In our free Bible study guides on the Web, I suggest that you review this article about commitment that shows the relationship between physical habits and Christian living. Just click on this link: www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-tips/commitment.htm. Let's all follow through and make our word good.

P.S.: I'd like to hear from you about what is the advice you give most to others from your life's experiences. Please write to me at victor_kubik@ucg.org.

 

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Comments

  • DanielSnedden
    Very good points Mr Kubik! In business you try to anticipate as many potential problems that can prevent meeting an obligation. Even then there will be times that you cannot avoid it. I have seen managers lie to customers in the past and the result was always bad for the business, and eventually the employee. Honesty goes along with that promise. If you are not willing to make the effort then do not make that promise. As my dad used to say " Don't promise something that you do not think you can deliver". "Be honet with people".
  • Jacob Hitsman
    Thank you Victor for these words of encouragement. God is faithful and so we must also return this faithfulness back to Him. Thinking about your question about advice I would give people from my life's experiences I would say seek God every day and follow His Commandments. Know about Eternal Life and desire this with all your being. Contemplate eternal life and your responsibilities there. Prepare yourself for life in God's Kingdom in a nutshell. Being in the God Family is the goal. When you know God somewhat then you understand the meaning of this life and put into prospective the short 80 years that we live on this earth. We should be willing to sacrifice and serve and love other people and the nature in this life to show God how much we really do love Him. We need to realize that nothing is comparable in this life to life eternal with Holy God. With praise and thanksgiving we live every day thanking God continually throughout our day. We live with God living inside of us and the only sadness we may experience is our own lustful will taking us places we should not be. But fortunately God has paid the penalty for our own selfish lust which overtake us occasionally. Thank you Holy God for doing this for us weak humans. It is with great pleasure and pain that I divest myself of all material possessions and go out into the world proclaiming Christ crucified and resurrected after the third day according to the scriptures. Putting my total trust in Him to sustain me and guide me and give me meaningful work on His earth is in my prayers daily. This is not the first time to go down this road but it seems as though it gets more painful as I age. The joy that I will experience at the end justifies the pain I feel about relinquishing all the material possessions I currently have under my disposal. Since God is the owner of this earth we do not really own anything but take good care of God's earth out of respect for Holy God. It involves respect towards everything on this earth basically. Let us pray that we remain close to God and ready to implement His Holy Kingdom in His Holy Time. Amen
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