[ Today's Readings ]
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Oaths can be ways by which we talk ourselves into having more control over something than we really do. We make promises that are beyond the scope of our ability to ensure. And sometimes we vaguely reference these things to God as a guarantor. This isn't OK. It stems from our need to be in control rather than our trust in God.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the Evil One.”
The LORD does help us to keep promises for which we ask his help. If he is the one who begins the good work in us he is able to bring it to completion (see Philippians 1:6). This sort of confidence is entirely different from the oaths mentioned above. It does not begin from our need to be in control. Rather it begins from our surrender to his plan for us.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”
This work with Barnabas and Saul begins with the LORD. They can be not only confident but absolutely certain that, whatever his purpose, the LORD will accomplish it in them.
They know the LORD will help everyone to remain faithful to the LORD in firmness of heart. They know that the LORD will help to add people to his number. This is confidence which begins in the LORD. And we can have it as well.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
There is no middle ground. Our oaths (and our reasons for confidence) can't begin at haven or earth. They must begin with God himself otherwise they come from the Evil One. God himself makes the promises. And Jesus is the yes to those promises.
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory (see Second Corinthians 1:20).
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