{"id":1657,"date":"2020-01-10T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1657"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:13:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:13:08","slug":"how-to-make-an-oath-that-can-be-trusted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/10\/how-to-make-an-oath-that-can-be-trusted\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO MAKE AN OATH THAT CAN BE TRUSTED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSo the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.\u201d Genesis 24:9 NIV<\/em><\/strong>
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Back in the days of Abraham and Isaac, one way people made an oath  was by placing their hand under the other person\u2019s thigh. Jewish tradition says this is a physical act of submission to someone in authority.  In today\u2019s verse, Abraham has asked his servant to find a wife for his son Issac. The servant is afraid the bride-to-be won\u2019t want to come with him.  Abraham said if she doesn\u2019t want to come, the servant is released of his oath. Then the servant places his hand under Abraham\u2019s thigh and promises to do all that Abraham has asked.  He lives up to his oath, Rebecca does come back with the servant and marry Issaac. Happy ending for everyone.
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But what if Abraham\u2019s servant didn\u2019t keep his word?  What if he didn\u2019t fulfill his oath to Abraham? The New Testament upped the game with keeping one\u2019s word.  James tells us, \u201cAbove all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear\u2014not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple \u201cYes\u201d or \u201cNo.\u201d Otherwise you will be condemned.\u201d (James 5:12 NIV<\/a>).  If we are following Jesus, all of our words matter.  Our yes means yes, our no, no. Unfortunately, in today\u2019s world, fake news is the norm.  People not doing what they say they are going to do is a way of life. We\u2019ve lost the expectation that people will actually do what they say they are going to do.  When did our words become so meaningless? Let your \u201cyes\u201d mean \u201cyes, let your \u201cno\u201d mean \u201cno.\u201d
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Let you \u201cyes\u201d mean \u201cyes, let your \u201cno\u201d mean \u201cno.\u201d<\/strong>
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Matthew tells us, \u201cYou are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.\u201d (Matthew 5:13 NIV<\/a>).\u00a0 We are the salt of the earth when we do what we say we are going to do, even if we don\u2019t want too.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t keep our word, we lose our saltiness. When we show up at an event we said yes too, even though it\u2019s the last thing we want to do, we are salty.\u00a0 When we work on our marriage by keeping the vows made to each other, we are salty. When we teach our kids there are consequences to their actions by keeping our word, we are salty.\u00a0 When we let our yes mean yes and our no mean no, we are salty. Salt the earth today, do what you say you\u2019re going to do.
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Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do today to salt the earth?
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Further Reading:<\/strong> Genesis 23:1-24 NIV<\/a>, Matthew 6:25-7:14 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 9:13-20 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 3:1-6 NIV<\/a>
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\u201cSo the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.\u201d Genesis 24:9 NIV Back in the days of Abraham and Isaac, one way people made an oath  was by placing their hand under the other person\u2019s thigh. Jewish tradition says this is a… Continue reading HOW TO MAKE AN OATH THAT CAN BE TRUSTED<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1658,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions\/1658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}