The Oath.

Psalms 15:1-5

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless

and who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart.

3 and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman,

4 who despises a vile man

but honors those who fear the Lord,

who keeps his oath

even when it hurts,

5 who lends his money without usury

and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things

will never be shaken.

When you read these verses you quickly realize that it’s nearly  

impossible to adhere to. We might excel in one area and then fall flat  

on our faces in another the very next day. Thankfully David goes on to  

explain (in Psalms 16) that our righteous comes from God alone, so the weight  

is lifted a bit more and we’re able to breathe again.

The one verse that stood out to me is the second part of verse four, which reads: 

“Who keeps his oath even when it hurts.” 

Here in Lubbock Kim and I attend Experience Life Church where they

just wrapped up an excellent series called “Redefining Marriage.” If

you’re not a member or a Lubbock native, you can still catch it either  

online at http://experiencelifenow.com/ in the podcast section, or  

subscribe to it here at the iTunes Music Store. Chris Galanos has always been

known to preach the Bible, regardless of whether it offends anyone or not,

and he didn’t hold back on this series. God has laid out some very specific

guidelines on how to get the best out of our relationships and marriages,

but the burden falls to us whether we want to follow through with them

or try make our own way.

In my opinion, keeping an oath in marriage is the key to its  

survival. A marriage simply can’t sustain itself on passion or emotion alone.  

Even a close friendship and companionship won’t help it weather the  

storms that life has in store. I strongly believe that the ONLY way to keep a

marriage together is to remain committed to it, regardless of how you feel.

I say this with passionate conviction because I’m speaking from experience.

A little over four years ago Kim and I were on the brink of divorce.  

Our lines of communication had broken down to such a point where we  

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