Keep It Short & Sweet

Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one. - Matthew 5:37

There's no doubt that Jesus is a great teacher. He even gave us instructions on how to speak, and I'm sure that if we followed this we would have far fewer problems with others and with God. When Jesus said this, He had just warned us never to swear. How many of us lie and then make up all this extra stuff around that lie just to make it seem more credible? I know I've done it! By keeping our answers direct and honest to people we, first of all, avoid lying, and we also get rid of all those excess statements that usually get us into trouble.

This verse doesn't only stress answering with truth, it also implies that there's no need to talk more than we should. We need to keep things short and sweet, especially because anything else leads to idle gossip. I've always said that one of the sins that scares me the most is calumny, which is when one makes up something fictitious to hurt the reputation of someone else. Obviously, it's such an evil thing to do, but when we add all this extra stuff I mentioned above to a conversation, calumny isn't too far away. It's very easy to bring up someone's name and before you know it, you're gossiping about them and the person you're speaking to takes that conversation to someone else with the information you gave them. You might not have meant to say anything bad, but idle talk never leads to anything good. We should use our speech and our words for good and no other purpose if we want to avoid sin. Like Jesus always is, be honest, direct, and concise.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, remove from my lips all lies and idle gossip. Let my lips only speak truth and avoid becoming involved in anything that hurts or degrades any one of your children. In Your Name we pray, amen.


Lumineux: Letting God's Light Shine
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