| Can Folks Count On Your Word? |
| James 5:12 "Above all, my brothers, do not swear--not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned." |
| There is something notable about this passage. If I tell you something, you are supposed to take me on my word. I am supposed to always follow through. I am supposed to always honour and keep my word. You can count on the fact that when I, as a Christian man, tell you something, it will happen, it is truth and I will make every attempt with my last breath to keep it. James is telling us here that we, as Christians, need not swear or promise because our words are absolute. If I tell you yes, you KNOW it is truth. I don't tell the truth or tell you I will do something in fear that you will take me to court or punish me if I am lying or don't follow through with it. I have God looking over my shoulder and in my heart. There is no desire for me to lie. There is every desire for me to tell the truth. And there is every desire for me to follow through with something if I tell you it will happen. Now, as Christians, we are still people. The flesh still pulls on us. We still stumble and fail. Aren't we told in Romans: Romans 7:15 "...For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Take this secular legend of the little boy who cried wolf: There was once a shepherd-boy who kept his flock at a little distance from the village. Once he thought he would play a trick on the villagers and have some fun at their expense. So he ran toward the village crying out, with all his might,-- "Wolf! Wolf! Come and help! The wolves are at my lambs!" The kind villagers left their work and ran to the field to help him. But when they got there the boy laughed at them for their pains; there was no wolf there. Still another day the boy tried the same trick, and the villagers came running to help and got laughed at again. Then one day a wolf did break into the fold and began killing the lambs. In great fright, the boy ran for help. "Wolf! Wolf!" he screamed. "There is a wolf in the flock! Help!" The villagers heard him, but they thought it was another mean trick; no one paid the least attention, or went near him. And the shepherd-boy lost all his sheep. The boy lost his word amoung his friends and family. As Christians, we risk our testimony. If I am constantly telling you something and not following through or not keeping my word then I risk your faith in me. Your trust and your confidence in me fail. If my word is worthless, what have I got left? If I have a worthless word and tell you the Word of the Lord, how can you trust me? I have sacrificed my testimony simply because I have other priorities than keeping my word. So I ask you, Folks, can we count on your word? |