Telling the Truth in Matthew 5:33-37

If religious leaders during the time of Jesus were going to play with making oaths in such a way that the name of God was taken in vain and truth was ignored, then why should they be allowed to swear at all? Treating the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit needs to be extremely important for the Christian. Telling the truth is extremely important for the Christian as well. If people who know us well see us telling the truth at all times, what a reputation we will have! But what kind of reputation will we have if we are constantly late for meetings with friends? What kind of reputation will we have if we are constantly coming up with excuses for why we did not do what we said we were going to do?

If we want others to keep their committments, we should be extremely careful to keep ours as well. And when we are people of our word, we will not have to make statements like, "I promise" or "I really mean it this time" because those who know us will not require anything more than a simple statement of fact.

"I will do it." That is all that we should have to say.