An IOU is a promissory note, a promise to pay note, and a vow is a verbal version of the same. “What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits toward me?” asks the psalmist (Psalm 116:12). He owes God for services rendered, and is considering how he should pay. One way is to “take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord”. To pay his vows unto the LORD in the presence of all His people.
In doing so, he fulfills the promises he has made to God, in the presence of witnesses. Under the Law of Moses, vows were verbal commitments to God that were not made lightly. A husband had the authority to cancel a foolish vow made by his wife, and a father could do the same in regard to one made by his daughter. Others were responsible before God to pay their vows as promised. A vow later regretted was one that ought not to have been made in the first place.
I have said the above to say this: Many Christians have vowed to the Lord that they would do certain things — and I believe that the time has come for them to pay those vows in full. I do not refer to rash vows made by the immature or the inexperienced in times when the Spirit of God was moving and they were caught up in the moment.
Nor am I referring to money (at least, not primarily). As Paul the apostle put it: “We seek not yours but you.” Not your money or your possessions but you! Paul was not about possessions but about people.
Out There in churches (or not in them) are countless numbers of genuine believers in the Lord Jesus who have made vows to him in the form of sincere promises. Promises of lives once dedicated to Jesus made by believers who vowed that they would pay the price, no matter the cost.
Many made these verbal IOUs in the first flush of newfound faith, not rashly but when called by the Spirit of the Lord. They owe it and they know it. Many are middle-aged, and remember such vows when awake at night and their marriage partners sleep blissfully alongside them, not knowing that such vows were ever made. The “God-shaped vacuum” inside those who vowed cries out to be filled, and can only be filled when Accounts Rendered are paid in full.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus, I hereby ‘call in’ these spiritual IOUs — these yet-to-be-paid verbal promises of total commitment to the cause of Christ. They can be ‘paid’ at a local church in statements of recommitments in the presence of witnesses.
I say again: not just in money, unless the Lord so directs, but in regular fellowship, in spiritual gifts, in natural talents such as music, or in some manner of service — however and in whatever way their contribution can help. Or in some other, quite different way, as the Lord directs.
So there it is: the matter that has long been in your heart is now in your hands. Read Psalm 116:114 and do as the Lord directs.