Your Word

“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” Matthew 5:37a NIV

            Promises are broken every day so they say. Promises are made to be broken they also say. Promise makers are not always promise keepers. Although some promises are broken intentionally others are not. Unintentional broken promises are no fault of the promise maker who had given their word. Their word was good enough to assure the one promised that the pledge would be honored. Then there are those who know they will not keep the promise they are agreeing to as they are making the promise. Their deception is in making an oath by swearing in the name of someone or something usually of a sacred or personal nature. Their word was not good enough for complete trust and honesty. They had to pad it with an oath.

            Jesus’s word to us from the Sermon on the Mount is this, “But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.” (Mt. 5:34-36) People in Jesus’s day thought they could break an oath if it wasn’t sworn in the name of God without consequences. Today we would call that ‘an out” or “a loophole.” But Jesus confirms that everything falls under God and His name. God’s throne is in heaven, He created the heavens and the earth, and He created us. There is nothing belonging to ourselves that is able to back up an oath. Jesus says, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” and then He adds these words, “anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Mt. 5:37)

            What about you? Is your word good enough to secure a promise or do you need to add some assurance in order to be believed? For the Christian our word should be taken at face value, which should be the reflection of the Lord Jesus in our lives. In the world in which we live others should expect our word to be nothing more than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as good enough for the Jesus follower.

            So, how is Your Word?