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87. Let Your Word Be Your Bond


Deuteronomy 23:21-23, Ecclesiastes 5:4-7, Matthew 5:33-37, James 5:12,
Key Verse: Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or by earth or by anything else.  Let your "yes" be yes, and your "no," be no, or you will be condemned.
James 5:12

This takes us back to the fifth day in this devotional series, when God made His first Covenant with Abram.  We had realized that Abram was only an observer of this covenant.  Only God walked between the divided halves of the animals because God knew that, as devoted as Abram might be for the moment, neither he, nor his descendants would be able to keep any promise of commitment, as God would.  God keeps promises; man breaks them.  God understood too well what He was dealing with in our sinful nature, therefore, He does not ask us to do what we will not do.

Jesus, here, is telling us to realize this sad fact about ourselves and treat each other accordingly.  We are sinful creatures, dealing with sinful creatures.  Our words are easily swayed by our emotions both to make and break the commitments we make.

"Let your "yes," be “yes,” and your "no," be no," Jesus advises.  Don't commit yourself beyond what you are humanly capable of doing.  You can't control the heavens, or the earth, or Jerusalem, or even your own hair color, (obviously spoken before the days of Clairol), so why bring those into it.  Anything beyond, "yes," or "no," is just foolish talk that you can't do anything about. 

Even in the Old Testament, when a person made a vow to God, it was a temporary thing.  Even at that, God, understanding the fickleness of man, provided ways to redeem what had been vowed so that you would not suffer the curse after having lied to God.

Only God can make a promise that can be relied on.  So we must be careful. Only by leaning on Jesus, can we hold to the commitments that we want to make to Him. Jesus demonstrates that He understands our human frailty here, and we, in His likeness, need to show the same grace and understanding toward our brothers and sisters.


Hymn:  "O Jesus I Have Promised"
Also, the song:  "Hold On To the Promises"

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