Listen

“Again you have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago: Don’t make a false solemn pledge, but you should follow through on what you have pledged to the Lord. But I say to you that you must not pledge at all. You must not pledge by heaven, because it’s God’s throne. You must not pledge by the earth, because it’s God’s footstool. You must not pledge by Jerusalem, because it’s the city of the great king. And you must not pledge by your head, because you can’t turn one hair white or black. Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

Matthew 5:33-37

Think

There’s a kid I know who climbed the ladder to the high dive at a water park, all the way up talking about the incredible jack-knife-gainer-two-flips-with-three-and-a-half-twists dive they were going to perform. Then, once at the top, this kid froze still as a stone. We all watched from the pool or the side, waiting for this once-in-a-lifetime dive. Then, after that one had climbed back down to the ground and no one noticed, a splash was heard. No words, no fanfare, but another kid had climbed to the top of the platform, stepped out onto the board, and jumped, splash!, into the pool.

The ripple of our lives is not in how loudly we say we are going to live them or how much we claim them to be. Instead, that ripple of impact and meaning is the sometimes quiet, many times humble faithfulness that we live out each day, because we have seen it lived first-hand in Jesus.

Byron Vance

Pray

O Lord, I pray that I would live my life with a yes to you that can be seen, heard, and experienced as faithfulness. Amen.

Go

So many things attempt to take priority in our lives. They each have their place.

Only one stands at the heart of things. Follow the voice of this One, our Lord, calling you today.