How often we swear. Not just casually, but dramatically. On our mother’s grave. On our own life. And when all else fails, on the heads of our children. It is said with such confidence that even the ceiling fan pauses to listen. Yet somehow, miraculously, the promise still manages to be broken before the tea has gone cold.
We live in a time where a simple yes is considered suspicious. A no is treated like an opening bid. And trust has become such an endangered species that even neighbours ask for things in writing. Loan agreements. Marriage agreements. Office agreements. Agreements for agreements. We no longer shake hands. We shake lawyers.
And then there is the Bible, always inconveniently simple. In Matthew chapter five verse thirty seven, Jesus says something that would put half the legal profession out of work if taken seriously. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Nothing more is needed. Nothing less will do.
Now notice what He does not say. He does not say add a little lie to make it convincing. He does not say exaggerate to seal the deal. He does not say swear on anything living or dead. He simply says speak the truth and stand by it.
But we are experts at the spiritual loophole. We say I promise, but we mean unless circumstances change. We say definitely, but we mean let us see. We say hundred percent, but only verbally. When caught, we shrug and say things happened. As if dishonesty were a weather condition.
The problem is not that we forget our promises. The problem is that we make them cheaply. Words today are like promotional pamphlets. Attractive, colourful, and meant to be discarded once read. No wonder written contracts have replaced character.
What Jesus was offering was not just moral advice. He was offering freedom. Imagine the relief of not having to remember what you exaggerated. Imagine the dignity of being trusted without proof. Imagine a world where your yes carried weight because your life backed it up.
Negotiations today are built on cleverness. On half truths. On strategic silence. On the belief that being smart means being slippery. But integrity is not stupidity. It is strength without theatrics.
When your word is true, you do not need witnesses. You do not need signatures. You do not need emotional blackmail involving children and heaven above. Your reputation becomes your contract.
So maybe it is time to return to something old fashioned. Something radical. Something biblical. Let us allow our yes and no to be enough. Let us stop swearing and start standing. Let us stop promising and start meaning.
Because when words lose their value, society pays the interest. And when truth returns to speech, trust quietly follows.
Let your yay be yay. Let your nay be nay. And let your life do the convincing…!