"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
We live in a very shallow time. We have had the displeasure to have a President that would ask us what the definition of the word "is" should be, in order to cover his own lies. We have Congressmen that debate what they said verses what they meant. Lawyers, police, teachers....each pushing their own agenda, each changing the meaning of words to suit their desires.
It is in this environment that we need more folks like James.
In the Book of James, we find a man that has been sent on a mission. God has placed him here to show us a deeper truth than what had been visible before. Like a diamond cutter with a lump of rock, James is led to hack away at the muck to find the precious stone beneath.
During the times that this letter was written, the Pharisees had implimented methods of making oaths that, depending on the formula used, would either make that oath easy or difficult to break. It was all in the way it was said, instead of being the FACT it was said, that gave legal weight to a promise.
Jesus used James to deliver a simple truth. Even our very words should be based completely on the faith given us from God Almighty.
If we are following the lead of that faith which is placed within us, we can use our words and our actions to show the trust we have in that faith. This becomes an outstanding witness to those around us. When it says, "But above all things, my brethren," we are shown how important this message really is. It isn't the swearing of an oath that is wrong per se, but the fact that we are not showing our faith when we try to manipulate a situation by our own words.
We are told to "let your yea be yea; and [your] nay, nay" so that we can show our faith to others by the security of our words. A Christian should be able to show themself as being above and beyond the expectations of the world. We can do this work by being so committed to our Lord, that we have no need for any greater demand of promise beyond a simple "yes" or "no."
James also delivered a warning, that to try to rely on our own oaths and such could set us up for the "fall into condemnation." If we make an oath to another, who are we to guarentee that we can fulfill this oath? God is the only one that can decide what and where we go. If we make a promise to be at point "A" and we fail to make good, those that have seen our failure can use this as a point of condemnation against us. We must walk in faith with our Lord Jesus moment by moment. Let our lives play out in accordance to God's will. Let our simple answers not be puffy oaths and self-centered promises based on our choices. Instead, let our yes be yes, our no be no, and let everything be based solidly on "Thy Will Be Done!"
Grace and Peace....
It is in this environment that we need more folks like James.
In the Book of James, we find a man that has been sent on a mission. God has placed him here to show us a deeper truth than what had been visible before. Like a diamond cutter with a lump of rock, James is led to hack away at the muck to find the precious stone beneath.
During the times that this letter was written, the Pharisees had implimented methods of making oaths that, depending on the formula used, would either make that oath easy or difficult to break. It was all in the way it was said, instead of being the FACT it was said, that gave legal weight to a promise.
Jesus used James to deliver a simple truth. Even our very words should be based completely on the faith given us from God Almighty.
If we are following the lead of that faith which is placed within us, we can use our words and our actions to show the trust we have in that faith. This becomes an outstanding witness to those around us. When it says, "But above all things, my brethren," we are shown how important this message really is. It isn't the swearing of an oath that is wrong per se, but the fact that we are not showing our faith when we try to manipulate a situation by our own words.
We are told to "let your yea be yea; and [your] nay, nay" so that we can show our faith to others by the security of our words. A Christian should be able to show themself as being above and beyond the expectations of the world. We can do this work by being so committed to our Lord, that we have no need for any greater demand of promise beyond a simple "yes" or "no."
James also delivered a warning, that to try to rely on our own oaths and such could set us up for the "fall into condemnation." If we make an oath to another, who are we to guarentee that we can fulfill this oath? God is the only one that can decide what and where we go. If we make a promise to be at point "A" and we fail to make good, those that have seen our failure can use this as a point of condemnation against us. We must walk in faith with our Lord Jesus moment by moment. Let our lives play out in accordance to God's will. Let our simple answers not be puffy oaths and self-centered promises based on our choices. Instead, let our yes be yes, our no be no, and let everything be based solidly on "Thy Will Be Done!"
Grace and Peace....
