Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV)
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Communication is very interesting. Perception and assumption play into how we communicate. In fact, it's been taught that 93% of communication is tone of voice, facial gestures, and other non-verbal elements. These are how people perceive what you're saying. This means that only 7% of communication is the actual words you say.
Compound this by social networking and text messages that have caused us to write short blurbs in 140 characters or less. Code such as "LOL" meaning "laugh out loud" or "BRB" meaning "be right back" among other coded text messages have aided in the demise of how we communicate.
In the chosen Scripture text, Jesus is addressing the use of oaths. In the Old Testament, people would swear an oath to what they were saying, but often would fail to follow through. Jesus challenges this declaring that we should "say what we mean and mean what we say."
Consider this - are you a man or woman of your word? Can people trust that when you say something, it will happen? Are you consistent with the nurture and admonition of your children? Do you say one thing and do something else?
We've all heard cliche's like, "The check's in the mail" or "I'll get right on that" when in fact, we haven't even sealed the envelope or written the check yet, nor do we intend to get right on anything, much less whatever it is that we're supposed to be doing. As Christians, we need to mean what we say and say what we mean.
Go apply for a loan at your bank and if you're approved, prepare to sign your name so many times, you'll have a sore wrist the rest of the day. In bygone days, a man's word and a firm handshake constituted trust between two individuals transacting business. Today, with fraud, lying, and people not keeping their word, we have to sign our lives away. We may not be able to change the bank's policies, but we can ensure that we say what we mean and mean what we say.
Let's be men and women of our word.
