"I approve this message" the ads say, and we see the candidate's benevolent face. Sometimes the ads contain outright lies, but the approval is still there. It seems that lying in political campaigns is thought of by many people as "par for the course" and "to be expected."
Yet I see it as a symptom of a national spiritual sickness. Where is the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) in all of this? Do you want people lying about you? Has our respect for the truth evaporated in 21st century America?
Truthfulness is at the heart of the Gospel. God gives us the truth and He expects us to give the truth to each other, not manipulate the facts deceitfully to our advantage.
We need to go no further than the words of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount to see the importance of truthfulness and integrity. The principle that is present in Matthew 5:33-37 is to simply let your word be trustworthy enough to stand on its own. Jesus was simply instructing his audience to let their speech be so truthful that their “yes” meant “yes” and their “no” meant “no.”
The Sermon on the Mount provides Christians with a high standard for ethical living and right motivations. It is provides a solid ethical foundation to stand on in a morally-compromising world. However, just as the pain in a friend's body did not subside until she took some medicine, so too the principles found in the Sermon on the Mount will have no effect on our behavior unless we internalize them as well.
Let your yes be yes. Be truthful in all your dealings. This is the Word of God to you and me.
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