Daily Devotional for Thursday, March 28

Swearing

“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation,” James 5:12.

How many people do you know who ignore God daily, then remember He is around when things go wrong? If you have never seen it, look no further than social media. There are people asking others to pray for their time of need who never otherwise seem to think of their Lord. For many, God is only a God for the crisis and is not the God for daily living.

In the text, James may have been speaking about those who made oaths to God in the heat of a moment and then later tried to backpedal out of them. This idea is reminiscent of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:1-9 who got out of taking care of their elderly parents because they had conveniently promised their money to the Temple. God is not pleased with empty oaths taken in His name. He expects us to deal honestly with Him and with each other.

If you say “yes,” mean yes; if you say “no,” mean no. It is all about integrity. This junction is critical in our Christian walks and our testimonies. Christians should be instantly known as people whose “yes” means yes and whose “no” means no. There should never be any doubt in the mind of the people we engage with that the words we speak are, to our knowledge, true. Honesty matters to God. Jesus said, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew 5:37).

The world has many opportunities to find ways to present Christians as hypocrites. Do you really need to give it one more?

JUST A THOUGHT
If you only contact your friend when you are in trouble, he likely will only be your friend for a short time. How do you suppose God feels when we do that to Him?

Wally Fry