Believe me, I swear!
Growing up, it seemed like any time another kid wanted to be believed, he would say something like, “I swear on my mother’s life” or “I swear to God”. It was because he wanted to be seen as telling the truth, no matter how outlandish his claim was. Even still now, among adults, I hear similar phrases like, “That’s the God’s-honest truth” or “May God strike me down if I’m lying” or simply “On God”.
These qualifiers have always seemed to me as, well, a little weird to say. And apparently, so did Jesus’ half-brother James:
James 5:12
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes”, and your “no” mean “no”, so that you won’t fall under judgment.
Another translation for so that you won’t fall under judgment would be so that you won’t fall into hypocrisy. Ouch. No one wants the stigma of being viewed as a hypocrite. This thought isn’t unique to James, either. Because his big-brother Jesus covered this same topic in His Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:33-37
Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, “You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord”. But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’. Anything more than this is from the evil one.
How bad of a look is it if we’re “swearing” by heaven or by earth…and we are actually wrong on whatever it is we’re trying to convince others about? We have no control over the heavens, the earth, or what color our hair naturally grows out as. So what does all this “swearing” mean? A whole lotta nothing, honestly. But wow, phrases like this are commonly said in today’s culture. It’s as if we’re so used to people not following through that we need an extra layer of promise to get people to believe us.
It might not seem like a big deal to simply let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’, but the difference is that it will stand out in comparison to what people have typically experienced. If that statement sounds far-fetched, I would have likely agreed with you, if it weren’t for a recent experience at work.
I was given a small task of updating a few accounts, so I contacted each of the account owners via email on a Friday, telling them that their account credentials would change on the following Wednesday afternoon. Then, on that next Wednesday afternoon, I communicated their updates. I thought nothing of the task until I received an email back from one of the account owners with the following statement:
Thank you for making this process so smooth!
I was pretty surprised at getting a “thank you”, but also really surprised at being told that I made the whole thing “so smooth!” All I did was follow through with what I said I would do – and that apparently stood out to this particular person, enough for him to feel the need to express his gratitude to me.
It was still just a small thing…or was it? If we are to be Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), then it is appropriate for us to be reliable ambassadors. If we’re not following through on the “small things” or we have to “swear” or “On God” what we say…how will they believe us when the opportunity comes to talk about the most important thing they could ever know?
And it’s really just as simple as James and Jesus made it out to be – let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’.
Keep Pressing,
Ken