James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

What ever happened to the day when a man’s word was actually worth something? If a man said he would do something, you could count on it. Now, we are in a society where a man’s word is worthless. We rely on contracts and judges to enforce those contracts. As a society, we look for loopholes and excuses to break those contracts and escape our obligations. James is commanding us not to swear an oath but rather to allow our history of keeping our word speak for us.

By contrast, if our personal history is one of breaking our contracts, that will speak for us as well. Our word, our promise should be as good as gold.