Adar 23
My Word
“Just let your 'Yes' be a simple 'Yes,' and your 'No' a
simple 'No'; anything more than this HAS ITS ORIGIN IN EVIL.” (Mat 5:37 CJB,
emphasis mine)
When called upon in a court of law to give
testimony, we are required, by law, to “solemnly swear, that what we are about
to say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. For many years, this oath was taken while
placing your hand upon the Word of God, the Bible, which many people recognize
as being the Word of Truth.
Noah Webster defines “swear” as “to affirm or
utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is
affirmed; to promise upon oath; to give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the
truth of a statement”[1]. In situations such as a legal issue, we understand
where “oath taking” is necessary to protect the innocent, and there are laws to
insure that those who bear false witness are severely punished.
However, in this verse above, Elohim is calling us
to be people of our word. The days of the “old-time western movies”,
where a man’s word was as good as his hand shake, is a biblical principal. If it is necessary to add anything to my “yes”,
or to my “no”, basically what I am saying is that I do not tell the truth
unless I am adding these extra oaths
to my yea’s and nay’s … an impression that is not Messiah-like. My
(natural) Dad told me many years ago, that my
integrity is only equal to the importance I place on honoring my word.
If my word cannot be trusted, relied
and depended upon, then neither can I.
Strong words, there. And if I
choose not to honor my word, then, in
essence, I am lying.
“Therefore, stripping off
falsehood, let everyone speak truth with
his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a
body.” (Eph 4:25 CJB, emphasis mine)
“Do not lie to each other, since you have put off the old man with his practices, and have put on the new one who is renewed in
knowledge according to the likeness of Him who created him ...” (Col 3:9-10
ISR, emphasis mine)
©2018
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