A weekday morning devotional series written by Aaron Marcarelli and hosted by Chad McBeam
“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘ You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, take no oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. But make sure your statement is, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil origin.”
Matthew 5:33-37 NASB2020
Why does Jesus make this statement regarding what we vow or promise? This had become a competition of one upmanship among the Pharisees and sadducees. They would make a vow, saying they would memorize Torah and recite it day and night to prove they were greater than the other. They would vow to pray longer in front of the synagogue, (Jesus Will specifically call them out later in this sermon) “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
Matthew 6:5
Our words, when vow and take an oath should only be I do, or yes or no. Our words are our bond and our actions are the fruition of our words. Notice I did not say the word “should”. In many languages there is no word for should. Because either you do something or you do not. There is no middle ground. Because we can make all these vows and promises and if we don’t follow through with them we have not done our Fathers will. It’s like the parable of the two sons doing their father’s will. One said yes dad I’ll do what you asked, yet he did not do what he was asked. The other said no dad I’m too busy, but he went and did what his father asked. Obviously the second one is the one who did his Father’s will. Therefore, we must follow through on our simple words of yes or no and do what God asks of us. The only way we do that is to spend time with Him in prayer and in His Holy word. This is my prayer. We as followers of Christ must be better at this!
Lord, we thank you for your perfect and pleasing word. Lord please help us to follow you, help us to act and do as you have called us to do. Help our yes to be yes and no to be no. Let us lean on you and the power of your Holy Spirit in all things in our daily walk with you. In Jesus Name Amen…
Shalom Blessings and Press in and Press On!