Tonight's Hard Sayings of Jesus is based on Matthew 5:34: "But I say to you, do not swear at all..." Well damn! Actually, Jesus is asking us, his followers, to be men and women of our word. James, the brother of Jesus, exhorts us to let our "yes be yes" and our "no be no" (James 5:12). We should not be known as people who must swear an oath before others will believe what we are saying. We should seek to be the type of people who are known simply for being honest.
Behaving in this manner allows our faith to show through and evidences not only our commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord, but the character of our faith.
The old saying goes: "Honesty is the best policy." Our world, however, paints truth in shades of gray. Honesty may be the best policy, but it's not always the easy policy. It will not always lead to promotions, raises, or making friends. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that sometimes honesty leads to suffering--our own! Our Romans text for this Sunday is from Romans 5 (vv1-5):
...but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us...
Our faith demands that we make decisions that will cause us to suffer--at least according to the world's point of view. But this builds character, and refines the faith we have been given, that we may be grow into mature men and women of faith. Suffering is only bad when it happens for no purpose. As followers of Jesus Christ, we know that everything in life is an opportunity for our faith to grow and be seen.
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