YES BE YES

Dining with Jesus Christian Episodes

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

IF YOU LIKE THIS POST PLEASE FOLLOW US, SHARE WITH OTHERS AND PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND GIVE US A LIKE.

Translate this site into your preferred language, look for our Google translator in our home page: diningwithjesus.net

Traduce este sitio en tu idioma preferido, busca nuestro traductor de Google en nuestra página de inicio ve a: diningwithjesus.net

At the heart of the ninth commandment (“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16), we find a call from the Lord to have those who are called by his name to become people whose word can be trusted and in whom the surrounding world can place their trust. Jesus Christ picked up on this principle and helped apply it into our lives in a practical and powerful way. 

Listen to the teaching of our Lord, 

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;  35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 

37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

(Matthew 5:33-37 NIV11)

Why Swear?

One of the takeaways from this teaching is that the follower of Jesus Christ needs to become someone who is able to tell the truth as a matter of habit rather than as an exception. 

This is why the Lord taught that the taking of oaths and swearing by those things considered greater than ourselves leads us into a place of eventual rebellion and sin. The reason for this prohibition comes from our need for such augmentations to our proclamations of truth. 

Why do we need to swear by the Lord, heaven, the earth, our mothers, or any other external force or person?

The answer is a little deflating: we make oaths and swear by others because we recognize that we have a credibility problem. We know that we sometimes exaggerate, withhold the truth when asked, and even make stuff up to cover our insecurities and inadequacies. 

Impotent

Another lesson we need to learn from this teaching is that our oath-making and swearing does not make our statements more true or less false. 

When Jesus said that we cannot change even a hair on our own heads with our words he was helping us see the futility behind making these kinds of outward gestures of truthfulness if they do not come from within our hearts. 

Simply

And so Jesus Christ calls his people to take action. In verse 37, Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Jesus Christ is calling you and me to stop looking for ways to prove our truthfulness to others and instead, to simply speak the truth. As we learn to follow the call of God in this way, we will find that our word will carry weight and that we do not need to adorn our statements with pomp and circumstance. 

  •   What would it be like in your life if you were able to take this simple truth on board?
  •   What would it mean to you to know that you are seen as the kind of person whose word can be trusted implicitly because of your track record of honesty?

If you are willing, consider making the following prayer your own:

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, I have heard your word and I desire to have your help in making it a reality in my daily life. I want to replace my weird desire to add to my stories with a certainty of speech that comes from you. I want to tell the truth rather than cover my mistakes and shortcomings with lies. Help me be a person of integrity as you lead me to become someone who lets their yes be yes, and their no, no. 

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN


Works at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox. Please Enter your email address in the box below.

Copyright © 2024 Ryan Laden – All Rights Reserved.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Dining with Jesus Christian Episodes

DINING WITH JESUS PRODUCTIONS. - is a 501 C3 Non-Profit Organization. DINING WITH JESUS MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to give honor glory and praise to our Creator. With our Christian episodes create spiritual awareness among all nations about the importance of having a relationship with Jesus. With God’s love we cast out His word to all the nations of the world to gather His church. DINING WITH JESUS VISION STATEMENT Our vision is to strengthen families through God’s word and increasing the number of people locally and from all nations to come to Jesus. God’s word will spiritually heal and transform individuals and communities creating a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives along with responsibility and accountability. Churches, business owners, non-profits and other organizations will participate in DWJ episodes providing all our viewers information about basic community resources to better the lives of their families. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? James 2:16 New International Version (NIV). DINING WITH JESUS OUTCOME We are here to strengthen families and with God’s blessing we will see an increasing number of episodes helping us to bring people locally and from all nations to Jesus. All these people will make a difference in their families and in their community. We will build up an ongoing network of support with Evangelical Christian churches, the Christian community, nonprofit organizations, business owners and families to continue to strengthen families. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 NKJ. To watch our Christian blogs and videos for free go to: diningwithjesus.net Pease follow us and share with others. Please keep this Ministry in your daily prayers. God bless you. Dining with Jesus TV Copyright 2016-2021