It is God's world!

Matthew 5:33-37

You have heard that it was said by the people of the old days: You shall not take an oath falsely, but you shall pay your oath in full to the Lord. But I say to you: Do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King, nor by your head, for you cannot make one hair black or white. When you say, Yes, let it be yes; and when you say, No, let it be no. Anything which goes beyond that has its source in evil.

Food for thought!

Jesus is warning us not to abuse the name of God. Far too often we use the most sacred language in the most meaningless way. We take the sacred name of God upon our lips in the most thoughtless and irreverent way. The sacred names should be kept for sacred things. Period.

Why do we use God's name? Well, it is because we want to involve God; we want to make God a partner in what we say or do. The truth that Jesus is teaching us is this: so far from having to make God a partner in any matter, no man can keep God out of any matter. God is already there.

The heaven is the throne of God; the earth is the footstool of God; Jerusalem is the city of God; a man's head does not belong to him; he cannot even make a hair white or black; his life is God's; there is nothing in the world which does not belong to God; and, therefore, whether God is actually named in so many words or not, does not matter. God is there already.

Here is a great eternal truth. Life cannot be divided into compartments in some of which God is involved and in others of which he is not involved; there cannot be one kind of language in the Church and another kind of language in the shipyard or the factory or the office or on the Main Street; there cannot be one kind of standard of conduct in the Church and another kind of standard in the business world.

The fact is that God does not need to be invited into certain departments of life, and kept out of others. He is everywhere, all through life and every activity of life. He hears not only the words which are spoken in his name; he hears all words; and there cannot be any such thing as a form of words which evades bringing God into a transaction. We will regard all promises as sacred, if we remember that all promises are made in the presence of God.