Matthew 5:37 (NKJV) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut let your \u2018Yes\u2019 be \u2018Yes,\u2019 and your \u2018No,\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a profound and hard saying, but it cuts to the heart of personal integrity. We try so hard to prove that we are honest and credible and we do so much to make people believe us; even at times going to the extreme of taking vows and oaths or pronouncing curses on ourselves in an attempt to prove our trustworthiness. It\u2019s not worth it. A man of integrity is a man of integrity, and he doesn\u2019t have to prove his integrity by making vows or taking oaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything beyond the mere promise of your word of integrity is of the evil one. If you can\u2019t believe my word for what it is, then what guarantee do I have that you will believe me if I swear on the bible? If the value of my person cannot validate the words I speak, then I will not do anything else to validate it. I must live in complete transparency and truth, and I mustn\u2019t try to do anything extra to prove my sincerity or loyalty or truthfulness. In the words of Jesus, let your words be Yes, or No and \u201cwhatever is more than these is from the evil one.\u201d My life verifies and validates my integrity and credibility. My words proceed from me, and if my life cannot be a surety for the truthfulness of my words, then I will not bother proving the veracity of my words to anyone. Take it or leave it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFather, may my life be such a life of truth and integrity that whosoever hears my voice believes and receives it for what it is- the truth- because my life authenticates my words. May my life be so full of truth that nobody will ever doubt my sincerity, my honesty and the authority of my words. This I ask for, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 5:37 (NKJV) \u201cBut let your \u2018Yes\u2019 be \u2018Yes,\u2019 and your \u2018No,\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019 For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.\u201d This is a profound and hard saying, but it cuts to the heart of personal integrity. We try so hard to prove that we are honest and credible and we do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Reflections-from-Matthew.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3585,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions\/3585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}