One thing that really bothers me is when people tell you they’re going to do something, but then they don’t do it. They tell you they’re going to call you back, but they don’t. They tell you they’ll be there, but they’re not. They say they’ll take care of it, but they don’t. That really bothers me. And don’t worry, those of you that know me – I’m not thinking of any one particular incident. It’s just a problem in our culture, even in our Christian culture. Our words don’t mean anything. We make promises and then break them. We exaggerate and shade the truth. We think that if we say, “I swear,” people will be more apt to believe us. We are not people of our word. But Jesus said, “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t’” (Matt. 5:33-37). The problem in Jesus’ day was similar to ours: people would make vows lightly and then break them. The rabbi’s would distinguish between types of oaths depending on by whom or what you swore. Oaths made “by the Lord” – you couldn’t break those. But oaths made “by heaven,” “earth,” or “Jerusalem” – you could break those. Jesus’ contemporaries had a problem with truthfulness. And so do we.