Your will

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

YOUR WILL

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

Now we ask in our prayer which is in our secret place, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. What exactly does that mean to us as we say that, or use that as an example or pattern for our praying? Let’s just assume for a minute that God the Father does sit upon a throne in heaven, as John described for us in the revelation given to him. He is surrounded by the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures as well as flashes of lighting, rumblings and pearls of thunder. Before the throne was what appeared to be a sea of glass.

Rev 4

4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."  2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne . 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne , seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne , were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne , and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all thiengs, and by your will they were created and have their being."

NIV

This is how it is in heaven, this is the will of God the Father who sits upon his throne. There is nothing that happens in heaven which is not his will. Surely once someone challenged his will, one of his creations, one of his angels, whose name was Lucifer. We know what happened to him. He and those he deceived into believing he could overthrow God, were cast out of heaven. God’s will has always been done and will always be done in heaven. So how then can his will be done on earth? What as we asking for? We could consider that ultimately his will is going to be done on earth as it is described for us in the revelation he gave to John. The fact that one day all men will be judged according to their work, whether they accepted or rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior. The sheep and the goats will be separated. The sheep will enter his rest, the goats will be cast out of heaven into the lake of burning sulfur. His will ultimately will be done. But that is the future, the someday, our hope. Yet in our prayer we are really, or should be really asking God to reign supreme in our hearts as he does in heaven. We should be asking that his will be accomplished in our hearts as it is in heaven. This would imply that we bow our hearts before him, that we fall flat on our face within our heart. We give him all the glory and honor and power in our hearts. This would mean we cannot think more of ourselves then we should. We are sinners save by his grace. Yet do we not take so much credit for so many things? We allow men to give us honor and praise for our intelligence, our degrees, our titles, our works, or good deeds which we do before men. But those good deeds are for the purpose of men giving glory to God. Yet here we are, taking the credit. Just look at our resumes, and see our listing of our degrees, our many talents and abilities and how much we know and can do. We take all the credit for it, wanting that company to think we are the best candidate for the position.  When missionaries come to church, they tell of how many things they are doing and thank us, give us thanks for all the support we give them. Surely we have already received our reward. But we sit there all puffed up, feeling good about ourselves, because we gave so much. No, that is not his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. All praise, all honor, all glory for all things done both in our heart and with our hands belong to the Father who sits upon his throne within our being. Would the world want to hear all we are, all we say, and all we do are for the purpose of honoring God? Maybe not, they what to hear about how great we are, or they want to tell us how great they are. Men praising men, but that is not his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. If we mean this in our prayer, then we must live as if we mean it, and not some of the time, as on Sunday morning, but all the time, every day of our lives everywhere we are in all situations. We bow our hearts before him, knowing that we want his will to be done in our lives, giving him all the honor, all the praise and all the glory for all that is in our lives. We submit all authority over to him, bowing our heart, yielding our self, forfeiting our will, our desires, our goals and ambitions to his will. This may not be an easy task, but this is what we are praying for when we say something along this words: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  

Our Father

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Our Father

Matt 6:9-13

9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

NIV

Somehow it seems inappropriate to break up the Lord’s Prayer by verse, so we will include all of it, however we may spend a few devotions to cover each individual concept. Here we have what many of us recite, usually, as a congregation at some time during church service. It also has been used to recite in conjunction with a prayer about Mary by one denomination either using a row of beads or for the reason of penance as assigned by a priest. Yet is this what Jesus intended when he said, “This, then is how you should pray”? First we need to see that this is the alternative to praying like either the Pharisees or as Jesus said, the hypocrites who pray in public as a big show of their spirituality, using flamboyant words. Instead this model or pattern for prayer should be done in secret. So then, perhaps the congregation recital may not be the intent of Jesus. However, let us move to seeing just what he meant for us to have within our hearts and minds during our secret time of prayer. First and foremost we recognize who we are praying to. Mistakenly, some believers pray to Jesus, although he is also God as is the Holy Spirit, which is what is referred to by many as the mystery of the Trinity. But here, as well as in other teachings, Jesus tells us to pray to the Father. He tells us if we ask the Father, in his name, the Father will give us what we ask for.

John 16:23-24

I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name . 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name . Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

NIV

Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father, yes in his name, but we do not pray to Jesus, but to the Father. So then here we are in the beginning, recognizing who it is we are praying to, but at that same time reminding ourselves that his name is hallowed. He knows his name is hallowed, we are not telling him his name is hallowed, we are reminding ourselves who he is and that his name is hallowed. The Greek word used here is actually a verb or action word form of another Greek word for holy, sacred, pure, and blameless. This action word would imply we venerate the name of God. That is we revere, or regard highly, give his name reverence, we exalt or adore, honor, respect and esteem his name. He knows who he is, and his own name. This prayer, this beginning is to bring all that into our minds and hearts regarding who he is. This is not a casual conversation with our closest friend, although Jesus has called us friend. This is a time when we enter into the very presence of the Almighty, holy, blameless, pure and exalted Creator of all things, and especially including us humans. He is our creator, our life source, he is the very breathe within us. Without the Father, we simply do not exist. We also remind ourselves that the Father is in Heaven. Whether he sits upon a throne, or as some might think, that is only symbolic, is not the point. God is in a place we have labeled as heaven. The Greek word here does imply the expanse above the earth. It has been interpreted to mean the region above the sidereal, or movement of stars, heavens, and the seat of an order of things eternal and consummately perfect, where God dwells and the other heavenly beings. Heaven, a place where Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father.

Col 3:1-4

3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

NIV

What was spoken to here gives us that concept when we pray, our Father who is in Heaven. We remind ourselves, we set our mind on things above, not on earthly things. We set the place in our heart, we raise ourselves above our earthly state and enter into the presence of the Almighty Father in Heaven. Now we are ready to pray. 

Ask in secret

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

ASK IN SECRET

Matt 6:5-8

5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

NIV

Oh how some would want to wax on in prayer with many words, large words which serve to prove of both their great vocabulary and their huge spirituality, or should that be huge vocabulary and great spirituality? Nevertheless, Jesus says don’t do it, for it proves only that those who do are just puffed up and being a show off. That is what the Pharisees were all about, a big show of religious expression. When we pray, we should not be about showing how many words we know, or how well we can express ourselves. Some believers we know even think God needs to hear the King James version of prayer. Jesus is going to give us a sample prayer next, which has been labeled as the Lord’s Prayer. This idea about praying in secret carries the same meaning about our giving in secret. The giving of our tithes and offering for the purpose of giving to the needy, even our missionary support is giving to the needy and all should be done in secret as our praying should be also. Now that does not preclude the pastor from praying for the congregation or the service in a public manner. But it should preclude the pastor from praying his entire sermon again at the close of the service. What this means is that we should not have to worry about how we speak to God. We can use whatever simply words we know, or feel to express our need or our praise to him. If we were speaking to our closest friend, what choice of words would we use? Most likely we would not start off with, “Oh John, great and wonderful John, how great is your name, John, I just cannot express how thankful we are for your incredible friendship.” Then we would say, “John, I am coming to your today with some heavy burdens upon my heart”. That would just sound stupid. But that is how some Christians think how they need to speak to God. He tells us to just talk to him, ask, trust, believe, he already knows what is on our heart. “God, I need help!” God, help me!” “Lord, I need patience.” Lord, give me peace in this situation” or something else we need his guidance, direction, or power in. At meals, we might need only say, “Thank you” He knows if we are really thankful or not. We just do not need to pray the same words over and over again, even the Lord’s Prayer has become something other than a pattern of prayer. Some recite it as if we have to say it exactly the same way Jesus said it in order for it to have meaning. It seems simply to just deal with these words of Jesus in the context of what he said them. Don’t be like those who are puffed up over their spirituality, just speak our mind when we come to him in prayer. Speak in the vernacular we use every day. His example is just that, a pattern, not a prayer to recite.  He knows what we need, he knows better than we do what we need. Maybe we should just pray for his will to be done in our lives. But the fact is Jesus did tell us to ask the Father. So whatever our need, just let him know we have a need. The point is not that he already knows, but that we should ask. Our asking acknowledges we know we have a need. Instead of trying to fulfill our need in our abilities, we ask him, showing our faith, our trust, our believing he will meet our need. Therefor it is not about the words, although we shouldn’t use a lot of them, and we should not be doing all that in front of everyone, but it is about the asking, and asking in the privacy of our own mind or when we are all alone, in secret. 

Rewarded

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

REWARDED

Matt 6:1-4

6:1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

NIV

This cannot be any clearly than it is. What mystery is in this truth? None. Simply be very careful not to make a public display of our righteousness. But this is not just about a public display of our acts of or showing our righteousness. Yet first we should define just what would be our acts of righteousness. This might be seen as our service to the Lord, what we do in church. But that does not fit all of the context of his teaching. In the context this might be seen as being a show off in our being righteous before others, or thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. Man has a tendency to place titles upon themselves to endeavor to indicate either their position in society or their intellectual prowess. Yet in the context of God, we are all the same, sinners saved by grace. How then could we ever do any acts of righteousness before men, if we have no righteousness except that of Christ?  The Greek gives us a clue as to what exactly this act of righteousness is. Be careful not to display your being made holy, your equity of character, or your justification before men. This would imply that we do not make a big deal about the things we do or the things we do not do, in an effort to show our Christianity. Some Christians make a very big deal about the fact they do not drink or smoke or stepped foot in a movie theater, or danced, or whatever which is supposed to prove how holy and righteous they are. Jesus said don’t do that for if you do, then you have already received your reward. But this also speaks to another point within the whole of the context about our giving. The Greek word for act of righteousness has also been translated as “alms” and in the rest of this teaching Jesus speaks about our giving to the poor or needy. We should first consider does this include our tithe and offers. If the church is the agent of our suppling to the needy of the world, then it would make perfect senses to include those tithes and offerings in the giving to the needy. It may be up to the church board, or elders or whoever decides how to spend the resources of the church other than on salaries and building maintenance. But the fact remains unless we personally are giving of our money or resources to those in need, then all we give at church would be spoken of here. This would mean that no one in the church should be aware of what we give either as a tithe or an offering.  We should not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. This would include those who count the money received in the collection of tithes and offerings. The writing of a check gives such information, or the writing of our name on the envelope containing cash. They then make a record of such giving and someone keeps track of it so we can receive a letter of confirmation as to our yearly total for tax purposes. We certainly do our sinning in private, so why would we not do our acts of righteousness in private? If we do them in public, so to speak, could this be already receiving our reward? Certainly we would not stand on the street corner and give away money to the needy, with some television station broadcasting our acts of righteousness. Yet that is exactly what some churches have done, announcing all their ministries before important visitors, or even before the community. Surely they have already received their reward. What about those missionaries who have to itinerate to raise support? Somehow they feel like they need to show how much they are doing for some indigenous people in order to give us a reason to support them.  They might even thank the church for all their support which makes us feel good about giving, but then because a record of our giving has been kept we have already received our reward in their praise for our faithful support. It is a very slippery slope we can travel in this giving of our resources. Perhaps it would be best to simply give cash without any name attached to it. Although it is true the church needs to keep accurate records because of government regulations, the fact still remains we should not let anyone know what we as people give to any cause for the needy. This whole money thing associated with church and missions may have turned into a big business instead of being what Jesus intended. So whether we act as if we are holy before others or we give so someone else knows about it, Jesus says no, not to do it, because in doing so we have already received our reward. So then what awaits us in the next life? What if the eternal life is the reward? That would put an entirely different spin on things. Whatever the reward is, it would be best to receive it from God rather than from men.  

Perfection

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

PERFECTION

Matt 5:43-48

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

NIV

How is this even possible being a human being? Although we have been created by the most perfect and holy God, we are inherently imperfect because of the fall of Adam. This is what Christianity calls original sin, although some denominations differentiate this with what they call personal sin. This simply means we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God due to being children or heirs of Adam. But at the same time each of us has that same heart that is bent toward that which is doing wrong instead of right, or in the case here, evil or wickedness. The point Jesus is making here is that God causes the same conditions of life to happen to the believer as he does the non-believer. He includes the sun and the rain to make that point. All of mankind, no matter whether they believe in God or not have the same earth to live on. God so love the world, all mankind, that he gave his one and only son, whom he loves, to be that sacrifice, so that whosoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. If he loves everyone, including the worst of the worst sinners, then should we not do the same? If we are supposed to have the mind of Christ, then we should love everyone. There should not be any hatred in our heart toward any other person. Sure, that sounds good, but how can we actually do it? There are just some people that rub us the wrong way. There are some people who would make our lives miserable. The fact is some people even hate us. But with all the other teachings of Jesus, not repaying evil with evil and then we come to this one about not just this repaying thing, but we should actually love them. Sometimes it seems we Christians would rather just stick together with each other, the, us four and no more philosophy. We get caught up in the thinking that it is us and them. We are the saved, they are the unsaved, we are the believers, they are the non-believers, we are the righteous and they are the unrighteous. We have built a wall between us and them and surely we should not associate with the likes of them, they are awful sinners who do not think or believe the way we do. Some would say that is why God gave us the armor, to fight against the evil world, but it is to fight against Satan, not the non-believer. We do not see them as the same of we are, but God does. All of us are his creation. Are we the only ones he has knit together in their mother’s womb? No, absolutely no! He knows the number of hairs on each person’s head, He loves them all. This is the view we must take in order to be the perfect as God is perfect. It is interesting what this word perfect means. The Greek word implies complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.) completeness. This would carry the meaning of lacking nothing in those areas. How is that even possible? Yet we have Christ. We are to have the mind of Christ.

1 Cor 2:10-16

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.   14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

NIV

We really need to read the whole of this passage to garner all the truth of it, but the main point is in the conclusion. We have the mind of Christ and therefore we should and we can show love toward all people. We see them as Jesus sees them, in need of the truth of the gospel, in need of his salvation, in need of healing, in need of outstretched arms, compassion, mercy, forgiveness. They are no different than us other then they have not yet believed. True the scripture tells us we have nothing in common with them. What does righteousness have in common with unrighteousness? We are not to be unequally yoked with them, that is to enter into a contract with them, be partners in their endeavors, but that does not preclude us from loving them. When we consider being perfect, being complete, that seems almost unattainable and we even say we are a work in progress, that is we have not yet reached that perfect state and we will most likely never as long as we are in this corruptible flesh. Yet that is our goal, that is the standard, that is the desired end result and thus we are to endeavor to work on continually having the mind of Christ, seeing those in need and doing all we can to fill that need, bringing them to Jesus. He is all we all will ever need.  He is perfection.

Getting Even

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

GETTING EVEN

Matt 5:38-42

38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'   39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

NIV

Here again Jesus quotes the Law which these people are knowledgeable of regarding the “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.

Ex 21:23-25

23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

NIV

This is actually stated three times concerning specifically different situations which indicates there was very exact circumstances in which this retribution was commanded by God. It may well have been the Jews, the Pharisees, as with all else made up more situations which this law applied to. This act of retribution is nothing more the getting even. This is a term we are more familiar with. Certainly in our civil society this law of retribution has totally lost its way. We would never think of taking a criminals hand because he injured a persons hand in a robbery, nor would we take all his money, if he had a home, or getaway car or whatever other material goods he had because he robbed a person of his money. No, if caught and convicted we simply incarcerate the robber for a number of years. There is no eye for an eye or hand for a hand. But in our personal lives we certainly know about getting even. It seems whenever we are hurt, emotionally or mentally, we begin to take on the attitude of getting even. Some households call this “tit for tat”, but in essence this is a form of getting even. Jesus makes it very clear this is not the way the life of a believer should be. If we are offended, turn the other cheek. If the offense is costly in some manner, forget the loss, in fact, offer more. The idea is no getting even, no retribution. Do not repay evil for evil.

Rom 12:17-21

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil . Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."   21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

NIV

It is a complete reversal of how this people were living, and perhaps it truly is a complete reversal from the way we normally think. It takes some effort not to want to get even in some way whenever we are offended. It takes the Spirit. However in the moment of this teaching, Jesus has not yet sent the Spirit so he intends for the listeners of his teaching to respond in their own way of thinking, to have a change of mind, a change in the way they think about things. So it is with us, although we have the Spirit to assist us, we still have to make that change in our thought process. It is not just rethinking getting even, but it is going the extra mile as well. This is total relaxation, total trust in the Lord, total contentment, total rest in knowing we are doing the right thing in the eyes of the Lord. We simply let it all roll off our backs, so to speak, let it go and in fact be nice, kind, patient, loving, merciful, gentle toward that person who offended us, basically exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit so they can enjoy that aspect of Christ in us. There simply is no room for getting even. Now that also means we should not take advantage of other believers being judgmental or critical of their behavior or actions, or even attitudes, which would put them in the situation of having to avoid that getting even temptation. So no getting even, period.

Yes or No

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

YES OR NO

Matt 5:33-37

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

NIV

If were to engage in a history lesson we would find the Jews had abused this concept of making oaths as a daily practice. We also find that the teachings of Jesus are usually linked to something the Jews knew from the Old Testament or for them the scrolls of old. Here we find Jesus referencing the Law.

Lev 19:12

12 "'Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

NIV

Deut 23:21-23

21 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

NIV

It is not unusual to hear someone say, “I swear it is the truth” or “Please believe me”  It would not be worth saying if it was not the truth in the first place, so what is the need to swear it is the truth. But oaths come in many forms, such as, “I promise”. When we promise to do something, we have made an oath that we are going to do it. How often have we broken that oath? It seems way too easy to make some excuse why we cannot keep that oath. Another form of making an oath is the agreement we make with our employer. They agree to pay us a certain amount for our completing our part of the agreement by doing certain tasks as well as adhere to the policies of the company. In essence we have given them our word, even more, we have signed our name on the dotted line. When we slack off the least bit we are breaking our oath. If we take more than the allotted time for a break or lunch we have broken our oath. Marriage is an oath we make, not just to another person, but most of us do that in the presence of God, using a sanctuary as the place for our oath making. With what Jesus just say about divorce it would make sense he was also including that kind of oath here as well. What did we promise to our future spouse in that wedding ceremony? What words did we use? Are we keeping our oath?  The point he is making for us today is simply do not allow our yes to be anything but our yes and our no means no. Although there are areas we cannot escape making an oath, such as in a court of law, or in our employment or in a marriage, it comes down to doing whatever we say we will do. That is why it is best that in most areas of life we simply need to say either yes or no. Yes, I will do that, and then do it. This certainly applies to saying, yes, we will pray for you, then we don’t. It is always best whenever we are asked or offer to pray to do it right then and there. Let our yes be yes. If we do not want to do something let our no be no, rather than to invent some lame excuse why we cannot do it. Yet the truth remains that whatever we say with our lips is what we must do. Otherwise just keep our mouth shut. Now this especially applies to our relationship with God. How we can even say when we sin and ask forgiveness and promise we will never do that again? What, are we promising on, our good name, or looks? We certainly cannot swear by his name we will never commit that sin again. Just don’t make an oath, except those we cannot escape making in our society as we mentioned. Yet in our everyday life it still comes down to either, yes or no, and let that stand alone.