“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

Matthew 5:33-37

All the things that are most important to us are the things we’ve said “yes” to. And if we’ve said “yes” to these things, then we’ve got to stick with them and see them through. Christ doesn’t like – and generally we don’t and other people don’t like – a divided and indecisive heart and mind. Christ said “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”, which means that when we are stuck in between “yes” and “no” and we’re not decided, then we are kind of in an evil place. And it really does feel like an evil place to be in, if we’re honest with ourselves.

It’s hard when we don’t know our priorities. It causes us confusion and to live in a state of purposelessness. That can be a very icky and depressing place to be in. Thus, we’ve got to narrow down our activities to the ones that are most important to us at any given stage of life, or time. These activities ought to be the ones most important to God, too, if we are believers. (Jordan Raynor has a great book out, on this topic of narrowing down our activities, called Master of One: Find and Focus on the Work You Were Created to Do. I highly recommend it. In fact, if you’d like to be entered into a drawing to win a pair of Raynor’s books, see how at the end of this post.)

When we’ve narrowed down our activities and know what we’ve got to focus on, then we’ve got to go all the way through with them and our decision of “yes” about them. And, if these are the things God wants us to focus on, then we’ve got an advantage, because we can ask God to give us the grace, strength, and resources to do all that we need to do. God is a generous God and he gives us what we need when we are doing His “yeses”. Christ told us to pray “Give us today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11) and he said when we ask our heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit, that God is not a wicked God and he won’t give us an evil gift instead of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). God is a good father and desires to give us the good things we need in order to perform our “yeses”.

Thus, in my job that I’ve said yes to, let my “yes” be “yes” and, God, help me to do my job to the best of my skills and knowledge. Also, build me up in greater knowledge and skills so that I can be satisfied in doing my job well. And God, help me also to do great in my marriage and as a mother. Give me all that I need, and help me to go all the way in my commitment and covenant with my husband, and consequently, help my husband and I to go all the way in raising up our kids. Furthermore, God, help me to do great in all the areas of my life where I have said “yes”. Lastly God, if there are areas in my life that I need to let go of, and have a decisive “no” for, then help me to let go of them and not look back.