Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father remind us of His faithfulness, how He has kep His every promise. Father, you have never failed. Your word is always true! And you delight in proving yourself ultimately trustworthy, over and over. In the name of Jesus and by the Spirit, please help us to keep our word, as children imitating their Father. Help us to keep our word, to prove and declare that we are striving to keep your Word according to your Will. Amen!
Your Morning Song: "Gonna Be Alright" by Ryan Ellis
Your Morning Scripture: James 5:12
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
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I love reading westerns. Mostly Louis L'Amour. I've heard some say that when they read those they feel like they were born in the wrong time. They wish they could live what they were reading. Not sure I'd quite go that far. But there is something caught up in almost all of these stories that I connected deeply with as a child and as an adult.
The power of giving your word.
In our current day and age there is a whole, complex system of laws and lawyers and technology made to hold us accountable. Because the power of someone giving their word has largely faded from our everyday living.
How much more important then is this verse from James. What would it say to our family, our friends, our co-workers, and our community, if we were the sort of people who were bound by their word. No complex systems needed. No laws, no lawyers, no tech. Our yes means yes. And our no means no.
Part of our problem, as God's children, is that have relied too much on culture to inform our thinking about important things like our trustworthiness. And we have not relied on God. In a similar fashion, back in the time when James wrote the book named after him, people would make oaths and vows to prove how trustworthy they were. They would swear by anything and everything. And it was ungodly. God says, through James, that our word ought to be good enough as it is.
Our word matters. We need to be careful that we are not people who say yes, and then no, or no and then yes. We need to be careful that we are not people who make elaborate promises and vows to cover over our inconsistent, untrustworthy word. Look at the end of the verse. If we are not consistent in our word, then it does not say that we will be called "foolish" or "unwise" or "unhealthy." Although, those things would certainly be true. It says that we may fall under condemnation.
How important is my word to me? Is it worth keeping? Or am I willing to risk condemnation?
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