Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’; your ‘no’, ‘no’…
In case you were out on another planet, you heard there was a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday. People are all fired up; celebration on one side and anger on the other. What to do.
Jesus made this crystal clear for us when He walked this earth.
He said that we’re men and women under authority.
Remember when the Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant in Matthew 8:5-13? “For I myself am a man under authority…” he said to Jesus. He was under the authority of his military commanders. Jesus was healing people under the authority of His Heavenly Father.
Then there was the confrontation when Jesus was handed a Roman coin and asked if the Jews were to pay the onerous taxes imposed by their occupiers. Jesus said “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him”. (Mark 12:17)
I think “they were amazed at him” because “his people” thought He would say “Hell no!” and lead a revolution. (He probably wouldn’t have said ‘hell’) They thought he’d head up an insurgency and throw the bums out.
But He didn’t. He validated the fact that we’re all under authority. Then and now.
…and don’t you love the clarity of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’? When you’re under authority and your authority says ‘yes’, you’ve got a green light and you’re off to the races. If it’s ‘no’, then it’s ‘no’. There’s peace in ‘no’. There’s certainty. Closure.
I wish I’d known Matthew 5:37 the first 33 years of my life. Here’s how it goes…
“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
Ask someone to help you and get a “Yes, I’d be glad to”….it’s like a cool breeze on a hot day. Get a “No, I can’t do that” and it knocks you off balance…for a second. But you recover quickly.
It’s the gray area that causes problems. “…anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Amazing but true. Think about it. It’s in the “gray area” evil gets a foothold. It’s living as close to sin as we can live without “sinning.” It’s not really lying, but maybe not saying all the truth. It’s looking at (another) woman’s beauty just a little too long. Not really wrong, but not really wise either. When it’s open for discussion, it’s open for compromise.
A lot of the frustrating times raising our kids came from the ‘gray area’ when we were inconclusive….when we couldn’t decide. We said ‘maybe’…our kids heard ‘yes’. The fight came when our ‘maybe’ became ‘no’ and their expectations were set on ‘yes’. We said ‘maybe’ because we didn’t want to deal with the backlash from saying ‘no’ right off. All we did was delay the reaction and make it stronger. An early ‘no’ trumps a ‘maybe’ followed by a later ‘no’ every time.
So no matter which side of the healthcare debate you’re on, the country now has clarity. We can put our attention to “how” and get over “if”. I like the slogan of one of the candidates “Believe in America.” I do. And I believe we’ll figure out the “how” and be okay. We’re a nation of laws and we’ve survived and thrived nearly 300 years by submitting to the authority of law. It’s time to do it again.
And next time you find yourself ‘on the horns of a dilemma’, remember Matthew 5:37.
Get to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and let people under your authority know what you decided. They’ll thrive in the clarity of a decisive leader.
Question: What’s your instinctive reaction to authority? As a Christ-follower, what should it be? We’d welcome your comments here.
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Responses (5)
I can’t agree more in regards to submitting to authorities. We show respect and honor to God(the unseen) through respect and honor to what is seen. That’s one way God tests whether if we honor and respect His authority.
Although many might think that Obama might not have been the best president for this stage of history, there was a reason for God placing him in the office. Aso, although many might think his policies are socialistic, his policies have helped many struggling families as well as non-profits to helped communities in need during this sluggish economy. Maybe his monetary policies weren’t so wise, but the human factor sometimes has no limit in cost.
I have a nephew whom I love who believes healthcare should be a basic right for people in a country as rich as America. In the larger context, that’s an admirable ideal. The conflict comes in the “how”. I think all sides agree on the ideals, but the role of government is the root issue. My point was…and is…that we willingly submit to the “yes” answer of the Supreme Court and get on with it. If there’s a different President and a different Congress someday, that’s the time to discuss it again. But the toothpaste is out of the tube. You can never take away a benefit that’s extended to people. And this one is done.
It seems to me that Matthew 5:37 is not about decisive leadership. In context, the “anything beyond this” refers to an oath being added to a Yes or No. (not to the use of Maybe) Contrary to the Pharisees as discussed in Matthew 23 relative to oaths and providing the background for this instruction, simple truthfulness and straightforward commitments should instead be our standard. (i.e. no special qualification required to know we’re serious this time) The Supreme Court may have said “Maybe” or “We don’t know yet” if asked whether they would take the healthcare case before they had decided to take it, they probably didn’t take the decision to hear the case lightly, and neither of these behaviors are probably best understood as being grounded in the ways of the evil one.
“Certainly a different point of view, Dave. I understand where you are coming from. Here’s what I meant…”let your yes be yes and your no, no.. IS about decisive leadership. Can I come up with a yes/no answer immediately every time – no I can’t. If you come to me with a question/issue and I say “yes”… Then that means yes. If I say “no”…then that should mean no. The only alternative is to say “I need to think about that” prior to making a decision. As the Supreme Court…they “need to think about that.” What would be wrong would be for them to say yes and then come back a bit later and say “we really didn’t mean to say yes and we are sorry that you went and acted on our decision at the time”.
The deception creeps in when we say yes too soon and we ultimately decide no…or vice versa.
Case in point – – when BO was campaigning the first time and Hillary was talking about a healthcare mandate – – he positioned himself AGAINST a mandate, saying requiring people to purchase healthcare was like forcing a homeless person to buy a house. Now in office, he’s changed his no to a yes, or he was less than truthful with his no when he was battling Clinton. But the other point in the post is about authority. A new poll this morning says Americans want to move on. I’m one of those. Let’s make it work. It’s the law of the land.
Thanks for the clarification, Regi. I apologize if it’s problematic to only engage a part of your post. (i.e. decisive leadership and not also authority or healthcare)
As in my first comment, I agree that we should be truthful and straightforward and that Matthew 5:33-37 supports this. We should not only be truthful when in the context of an oath but always. (just as Jesus pressed the then current law and practice in the preceding and following sections of Matthew 5 regarding anger, lust, divorce, retaliation, enemies etc.) I’m no expert on leadership or decisive leadership, but I heard echos in your original post of a decisive leadership defined as being quite quick to a Yes or No. As you’ve just said, if the passage addresses speed to decision at all, the implication would seem to be the opposite if as followers of Jesus we are required to keep our commitments generally and not just in special cases. In terms of applying this passage and its requirement to keep our Yes(s) and No(s) to modern business, it seems to me like there may be some challenge to a simple application in the context of the complex strategies, decision trees, and sets of real options we commit to and thus we may need to at least recognize that some changes in path and responses to market conditions may not represent a violation of the principle here even if they are unexpected or even unforeseen. Operating with clear integrity in this environment should still be possible and hopefully Christians can help each other in this. (http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Oaths-Poor-Substitute)