Integrity be your testimony by Deon Crafford

James 5:12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

There is nothing that indicates the decay of our world more than the endless contracts and agreements we are all being subjected to. The subtexts to contracts are that I cannot trust you or me to do the right thing and/or let our word be our word. In recent times scamming and phishing have become practices we need to be warned about daily.I wonder if we had to ever be asked to sum up the world we live in, in one word, what would it be? Chaos & hate would be front runners, kindness and love significantly further down the list. For me though it would be the word exploitation. There is no other word that so clearly encapsulates what is happening to the majority of people in the world on a daily basis. The perpetrators are endless – governments, social interest groups, churches, schools, commercial entities and people like you and I. Yes, if people cannot rely on the immovability of our word or undertakings, we too have become exploiters. James offers us a way to change the world, to reverse the spiral of decay and to minister Christ to a world that is busy destroying itself by not following after Him. And it is simple – let your yes be yes and your no be no! When you said you will, then do so; when you said you won’t, then don’t. If you said you’ll be there, then be there; if you promised to love and cherish, then do so regardless of challenges and temptations that life may throw at you. It’s not that easy, because the lure of the world’s way is strong and the world no longer frowns on lying and dishonesty – it’s almost as though it had succumb to it. But if the Holy Spirit is invited to prepare our paths, and we truly follow Christ, yes will remain yes, and no, no. The simple exercise of integrity is a powerful testimony against evil.

Love to all