I had my fingers crossed! So it doesn’t count!
Words. Our whole lives are full of them. Do we consider them? Is this helpful? Does it build the person up? Am I thinking of their need? Is it beneficial? Am I recognising that they are listening to every word? Everyone can criticise but we are called to construct. Building someone up isn’t to massage ego or tip-toe around issues why they may need building up. What someone wants to hear and what they need to hear can be very different. Sometimes what is needed is not a pat on the back, a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, we need a hard word, a revelatory word, something spoken that hasn’t been said before and we need outside of the box thinking.
We need words that will move us out of a position we may be stuck in. We need words to think the opposite. We need words to dare to believe in the face of opposition that something just maybe true!
Choose your words carefully today. Slow your mouth down. Don’t type so fast on your social media feeds. What will come out of your mouth today?
And so James is closing down his letter and he does so by looking at the words we use.
He will call us to pray, sing, to call for the church elders if we are sick, to confess our sins and to pray for one another.
But first …
“Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.” (James 5 v 12)
I hope you still don’t cross your fingers behind your back when you are telling a lie! We have come to realise as we have grown up from this childish behaviour that having our fingers crossed behind our back does not protect us like we thought it would!
This picture gives us an idea of what James is talking about.
Have you ever been tempted to make up a story to go along with your NO because you want to let someone down gently? Then this is nearing the truth of what James is saying.
These early believers were making oaths to support whatever promises they might make as they went through hardships. But it seems these were unrealistic promises. James says stop it. Let us not be rash with our mouths, either with half-truths or exaggeration. We don’t need to use God’s name to back up what we are saying, we don’t have to cross our fingers and we don’t have to create which is probably the best picture of what James is saying.
Once again James is using the Sermon on the Mount and the heart of it which was hypocrisy. The Pharisees were constantly pulling the wool over people’s eyes. It seems that the religious would make great promises that they had no intention of keeping. Jesus is not saying that oaths should never be made. But he is telling his disciples in the hearing of the crowd not to be fooled by elaborate words and promises and indeed not to make them.
James is using that teaching of Jesus by telling us that the weight behind our words is our character. A great team is one where you know what one another would say. “That does not sound like her” is said because we know that our team member would not have used those words, we know her character.
Duplicity comes from a Latin word meaning “double”. A duplicitous person is a two-faced person. They are intentionally hiding their true feelings or intentions so as to try to make people believe something that you are saying or doing that is not true.
Do you ever feel tricked? Do you ever feel like you are playing mental gymnastics when talking with someone realising they are trying to trip you up or lead you to believe something that is not true? Do you ever wonder what the hidden agenda behind the comments and questions you are hearing?
Duplicity. Two-faced. Duplicitous people lay traps and the innocent continually fall into them. They exaggerate their speech for gain. They show no integrity with their words.
James says anything other than the simple truth will be judged. So let you YES be YES and your No be NO. Keep it simple but keep it truthful.
Missions Paul 