Vows

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament warn us about the danger of making vows. The reasons for that are worthy of consideration and reflection especially in a church today that places so much emphasis on altar calls, pledges, and similar public responses. First, vow making is usually an impulsive, emotional, response; rarely is it a thought-out, prayed-over decision. Second, vow making is usually an act of self-will, a statement that I am going to do something through my own will power. Because of that, we usually find a third problem--failure, guilt, and the growing doubt that we are useless to God and unable to live a life that will please Him. Frequent vow makers eventually just give up. I am afraid that far too often the church tries to do the Holy Spirit's job and demand an instant transformation when He is into a life-long, one-day-at-a-time transformation.
God's alternative to vow making is to fear Him and to develop a sense of integrity--to live a life that doesn't need vow making; to be men and women of action not verbiage. It takes a much deeper sense of devotion to live a life that's centered on pleasing Him than to promise to live such a life. If we constantly remind ourselves that we are living in His presence, we will make wise choices each day as they need to be made. Our growth will be gradual, but steady, and able to endure the inevitable stumbles and struggles than accompany the Christian maturation process. We will be better able to see our failures as part of the process, not reasons to throw up our hands in frustration and quit. We will become men and women of integrity, men and women of our word. People will know that when we say, "yes," we mean "yes." And when we say "no," we mean "no." They will know that we have reached those conclusions through careful thought and diligent prayer; that they are well thought out decisions.
Those of us who teach God's Word must be careful not to coerce the listeners into impulsive, spur of the moment, self-reliant vows. If they make those vows, God expects them to keep them; and obviously, there are dangers in not doing so. It is not mere semantics when Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, and Jesus, the God-man, warn us about the making of vows. Or the danger of enticing others into making them.