It’s easy–and tempting–to be dishonest and to speak lies. It seems that we find every way possible not to speak the truth.
Jesus dealt with this tendency in the Sermon on the Mount. In this discourse (Matthew 5:33–37), he reminded His followers of the teaching of the Law and its interpretation by the rabbis. They tended to look for ways to circumvent the plain teaching of Scripture.
They used taking the name of the Lord your God in vain as a way to circumvent truth telling. They emphasized the nuances and legalisms over the emphasis of the Law of not breaking an oath.
We still do the same things today.
Think about political speech. How often does a politician or even an elected leader nuance his speech so that he speaks falsehoods rather then speaking the truth? Remember, “it’s according to what ‘is’ is?”
We do this with manipulative speech. We use our words to manipulate and harm other people.
We do this with double talk, the tendency of using sarcasm or saying something like “I wish . . .” when we are trying to manipulate others.
To all of these things Jesus simply said, “Do not make any vows! . . . . Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or No, I won’t.” Anything beyond this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:34–37, NLT).
Jesus called us to simple honesty. Honest people speak the truth without the use of oaths.
The person whose word can be taken as his bond does not need to find a way to make sure that others know he is telling the truth.
Tell the truth habitually and regularly and all people will know that your yes is yes and your no is no.
These principles are absolutely necessary for enduring relationships. Families should be based on simple honesty. Marriages demand simple honesty.
Good business relationships and good work environments depend on speaking the truth.
A world based on lies and manipulation must have oaths to create order, but a world of simple honesty can simply let your yes be yes.
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