Be Truthful: Keep Your Word!

³³ “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.³⁷ But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

MATTHEW 5:33–37

What does it mean to test the tongue? In the time of Jesus, the rabbis made lots of rules aside from God’s Ten Commandments. They even made a formula for making vows. But Jesus said that the formula is not the point. The important thing is to be truthful about our vows (Matthew 5:36–37).

When God tells us to be truthful, it reveals one of His characters – our God is a God of truth (Isaiah 65:16). We must understand the heart of God that whatever He tells us is the truth and it is always for our own good. Until we understand this, we will never appreciate His Word.

WHY SHOULD WE NOT LIE?

The Bible tells us about a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who pretended to be generous and lied about the amount of their offering from their own property. Peter rebuked them for lying about it and immediately they died (Acts 5:3–11).

Why do people lie? We often lie to either promote ourselves, to protect our interest, or to impress people. We should be careful about lying because one lie always leads to another lie. Furthermore, lying is a sin. Notice how sins like adultery, stealing, and cheating always go with lying.

A lie is the opposite of truth. We need to know the truth to live it out. It is important that we read the Bible because the Word of God is the truth. The devil, on the other hand, is the father of lies and he will keep us from reading the Bible (John 8:44). He blinds many people into believing the lie that the Bible is inaccurate, and this makes them doubt its reliability. But the Bible is God’s Word and it is correct in every detail. It can stand all scrutiny. There has never been an instance that the Bible was proven to be factually incorrect.

PRACTICE BEING TRUTHFUL

God wants us to have the right standard of moral ethics, to be truthful, and to keep our word. We must apply this in our personal life, in our family, in the workplace, in the church community, and in our relationship with God.

In our personal life, if we walk with integrity, speak truth in our heart and do not change, we will enjoy the presence of our holy God (Psalm 15:1–2, 4). Such are the characteristics of the men and women who walk in the Lord. They will always keep their word.

In the family, word matters especially to the young children. If we say we will do it, we must be sure that we really do it. We must honor our commitment for what they see and hear from us, they will copy in their own lives.

In business, sometimes the only capital we can give others is our word. We build trust by our integrity. We cannot not afford to break our integrity because if people will not trust us we will not survive the business world. Our word is our bond.

In the church community, we usually have a problem. Because we do not want to disappoint people, we often say words that we really do not mean. For example, we say yes that we will come to the Dgroup meeting, or to an event, but we really do not mean to be there. This is very important for many Christians today do not take their word seriously, they live double lives. If we need to speak the truth, we need to speak it in love even if someone might get hurt (Ephesians 4:15). As the Bible says, let our yes be yes and our no be no (James 5:12).

In our relationship with God, we must be truthful. God expects us to keep our word. Let us be careful with our tongue for by our words we will be justified or condemned (Matthew 12:36–37). This is why we need Jesus, because apart from Him, we are all condemned for not keeping our words.

KEEP YOUR WORD, GOD DOES

We live today in a time when words are becoming less and less important. People are not faithful in their commitment anymore. But God is saying, as true followers of Jesus, be different, be truthful, keep your word. Remember the commitment we make to the Lord and keep our word.

Honesty is the key to intimacy in any relationship. We do not have to be perfect, moreover, we do not have to pretend to be perfect. How can we be intimate with our loved ones if we are not transparent to them? We cannot have intimacy if our relationship is built on lies.

God cannot lie and will never lie (Titus 1:2). God is unchangeable, He will keep His promise and His purpose (Hebrews 6:17–18). So, do not be depressed, do not worry, do not give up, but always hope and rejoice in the Lord, claim His Word based on His conditions.

We should read God’s Word to know Him. If we know the character of God, will we not be rested and secure? God is faithful, trust Him, He keeps His Word.

- from 4W's