Do you swear to tell the truth? James says, “Don’t”
You go to buy a truck from a used card lot but when you get there, the mileage is higher than what you saw in their online advertisement and you can clearly see it’s leaking power steering fluid when the salesman told you there were no leaks before you drove an hour to the lot to drive it.
Maybe it still looks like a good deal, but the trust is gone. What else is wrong that you haven’t noticed yet?
What happens when you enter a rodeo knowing there’s $4,000 in added money but you get there, win the deal and get shorted because the gate money was bad that night and the producer cut the added money in half to make up his losses? The trust is gone and his next $4,000 event is the same night as a $1,000-added deal a half-hour further away with a producer who has always paid out what was offered. What about a finals that when you get there after competing all year has half the prizes and money they bragged would be up for grabs all season? There’s a reasonable chance you’re buying a card for another association the next year.
Integrity counts and James tells us we better take it seriously.
James 5: 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
James appears to be reinforcing what Jesus himself taught about oaths in what we know as The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
Matthew 5:34-37 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 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 swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
James tells us that if we swear we will do something, we come under God’s judgment when we fail to do it and Jesus tells us that our dishonesty comes from Satan. It makes sense that James warns us then that God would condemn us for our dishonesty.
They both break it down very simply. Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” We should be so trustworthy that our yes or no answer to someone is all we need. We shouldn’t need to swear an oath to add weight behind a promise we make. If we fail to live up to that promise, we’ve made it even worse.
Now, it’s important to remember grace in this situation. When we have a saving faith in Jesus, God no longer condemns us for our sin, but we’re also told in Romans 6:1-2 to not continue to sin so that there can receive more of God’s grace.
Sometimes we’re backed into a corner or something unforeseen has happened and we give in to the temptation to sin by not going through with what we said we would do or we simply are unable to do it. Yes, God’s grace and forgiveness covers us, but when our saving faith is real, there will be repentance. It can be a simple confession that we failed with a sincere apology for being dishonest or we can take steps to make things right.
All of those steps can help restore our integrity.
As Christians, we need to be trustworthy. We have the most important piece of knowledge an unsaved person can receive and that’s the Gospel; God’s plan for salvation and the difference between an eternity in Heaven or Hell. If we can’t be trusted, how can we convince someone that we’re speaking the truth about their salvation?
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