I’ve been struggling with this verse I bookmarked on my Bible App awhile back. It was about your Yes being Yes and your NO being No. I went to look it up on the computer to be sure I had the right wording before processing it and found another very similar verse, but it still didn’t make me feel any better about it. In fact, it made me feel worse!
So here is what I found, and I checked it against many different translations and they all mean the same thing. YIKES!
Matthew 5:37
New Living Translation
Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything
beyond this is from the evil one.
beyond this is from the evil one.
International Standard Version
Instead, let your message be ‘Yes’ for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ for
‘No.’ Anything more than that comes from the evil one.”
‘No.’ Anything more than that comes from the evil one.”
The Message (MSG) Empty Promises
33-37 “And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel
is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay
down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing
it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words
true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more
religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate
words to get your own way, you go wrong.
is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay
down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing
it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words
true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more
religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate
words to get your own way, you go wrong.
But what I was looking for was actually James 5:12, which
says “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by
earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so
that you may not fall under judgment”.
says “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by
earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so
that you may not fall under judgment”.
Either way you look at it, the simple fact is this. Let your YES be YES and your NO be NO.
So, here’s where I’m stuck. What do you do when you’re really caught in a “maybe” mind set? I mean, how do you know that your YES or NO are coming from God and where he wants you to be? And not from a place of where is comfortable or fun for YOU?
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