But Matthew 5:37 is not talking about politics or companies. It’s talking about me. “Simply let your ’yes’ be ’yes’ and your ’no’ be ’no’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” For instance, people used to swear on a Bible. Then some went beyond that to “swearing on a stack of Bibles”, or “swearing on my mother’s grave.”

Well, can anything get crazier?  Yes, it can.  St. Louis County councilwoman, Kelli Dunaway,  swears into office on a Dr. Seuss book being held by her two children!

When your word is conditional on anything, you can find compromises that can be made, or you can find extenuating circumstances that can get you by. One of the characteristics in Psalm 15 for a person who dwells in the Lord’s sanctuary, is that the person keeps his word even when he “swears to his own hurt.” That’s not to say that there are never “extenuating circumstances” but even then it is imperative that we are sometimes seen as a “stand-in” for God.  We should behave in accordance with giving honor in the name of the Lord and, as much as possible, let our ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ be ‘no’.