“Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” — James 5:12 (ESV)
A while back a man got caught living an impossible life — married to four women at the same time. Do you know how you hold a lie that big together? You cannot trust your memory. So he carried a card, a little three-by-five with the names on it, and a black book to keep the stories straight. It all came apart the day two of his wives showed up on the same porch.
That card is what a lie costs you. When your word cannot stand on its own, you have to build scaffolding around it — a system, a cover story, an exit to keep track of.
James wants to free you from the whole racket. The honest person does not carry that card. Their yes was true the first time, so there is nothing to keep straight. You do not have to swear on anything when you already live in front of Someone who hears everything.
Straight words are just open hands for your mouth.
Today: Find one place your yes and no have gone slippery — the promise you are hedging, the thing you said that was not quite true. Say the true thing plainly.