Matthew 5:33-37 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Are you black and white with all of your answers? If not you leave room for the evil one. Don't believe me, reread it yourself. In John 8:44 we know that Satan is the father of lies and we know that those lies have penetrated every area of our society. We allow what we call, "little white lies", "half truths" and "fudging". These are not acceptable for the person who considers themselves a follower of Christ.
God’s absolute, unchanging standard is truth and sincerity in everything. Not only should oaths be totally truthful and dependable, but even the most routine conversations should be truthful in every detail. MacArthur, J. (1989). Matthew (326). Chicago: Moody Press.
Is every part of your conversation truthful? Are you telling the whole story or just the parts that you can tell for your advantage? What scares us about telling the truth? We have been taught in this society to withhold information, manipulate our stories all for our advantages. We are told that this is "the way of doing business", for "gaining the upper hand" and "keeping the ball in our court". All these statements are heard commonly with how people tell you to deal with people. But Jesus has another standard for those who claim to follow Him, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no."
What if your yes meant yes? Would that mean that people might get their feelings hurt? Would it mean that business associates would not be willing to do business with you? Or perhaps it would mean in the long run that people would know you are a person of your word and more importantly, it would show that you are a follower of Christ who is the truth. (John 14:6)
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I didn't read Monday's daily devotional until this morning...ok, I'm a slacker...anyway, it was talking about "putting away lying" - what a coincidence! The cool thing it said was this:
ReplyDelete"You cannot use deception to build the kingdom of God! God refuses to use sinful means to accomplish His holy purposes".
Wow, really think about it. That's a heavy, very direct and clear statement that tells me that I must be truthful in every situation/circumstance I encounter in my everyday life if I want to be used for His glory and honor...hence the reason I said I didn't read my daily devotion until today...
Just wanted to share......Debbie :)