How do I respond to someone’s requests? Jesus says,
Say … simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:37
There is a simplicity and a challenge here. A simplicity, in excluding the manipulative force of invoking oaths or swearing by what we cannot control, as Jesus says,
. .. do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
Matthew 5v34-35
A challenge, in encouraging me to give the time and focus to engage properly with the request knowing that …
… everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
Matthew 12v36
There is something about that commitment that forces attention and a considered opinion. My challenge is to be so living out of Jesus’ peace that I can give that focus when I am under many pressures. Can I be so generous with my attention that I give up my train of thought or my activity for the sake of the person who has come into my space with a request?
How do you handle this?
Photo by cottonbro studio