Cross My Heart
Week One: “Stop Swearing”
Matthew 5:33-37
Bottom line - Anytime we feel the need to swear, chances are high that our honesty is in question. We need to stop swearing and simply tell the truth. But before we can tell someone else the truth, we have to know what the truth is…
“Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.”
- incredibly intense old school yard oath - based on the old custom of sticking a needle in the eye of a dead person before they were buried to make sure they were dead
If you feel the need to swear, chances are high that your
Resolve to be honest at all events; and if, in your own judgment, you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose another occupation. —Honest Abe
Is there a “best version of the truth,” or is there only the truth?
Loop holes are only needed when the goal is to “not tell a lie,” but real honesty is about both
Context - Jesus is giving his most famous “Sermon on the Mount” and he’s actually upping the ante on a lot of the rules people have lived by, including the idea of honesty
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath 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 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’;
anything beyond this comes from the evil one. —Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus made it so simple -
To tell the truth, we have to know what that truth is. So, the real question becomes, are we being honest with
An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips. —Proverbs 24:26