Anyone who is familiar with the King James Version of the Bible knows the word ‘verily’ was often used by Jesus whenever He wanted us to take Him by His word. And those who are true believers, who have tested and tried the words of Christ, know that His words are timelessly true. A few of them are:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God – John 3:3 (KJV).
“…Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” – John 16:23b (KJV).
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life”– John 6:47 (KJV).
Okay, so that’s just by the way. So every decent person out there, be it Christian or any religious person and even the humanistic group, would want to be taken seriously and be respected for their integrity. Ideally, one’s word should be his bond. But now, no one takes word of mouth that seriously. People can only breathe easily when there’s a written agreement with signatures appended. Why? Because people cannot be trusted. You believe one’s words to your own disadvantage. This shouldn’t be so.
It is most likely that almost everyone has suffered the disappointment of someone breaking their word to them. This has created so much mistrust among people; even couples. If you were convinced that X was heaven sent to you and that you plan to exchange vows saying you’ll stay together till death do you part, why is the objection to a pre-nup a deal breaker? It only means, I may be in love with you and I want us to grow old together but I don’t trust you to go the whole nine yards with me. Love with a shaky trust foundation is a hollow and temporary one.
Is it that humanly impossible to keep one’s word these days? Why should we have to go through the stress of second-guessing every promise made to us? What happened to integrity? Did it go extinct with the dragons and dinosaurs?
If you know very well that you would not be able to fulfill a promise, don’t make it. And when you do give your word, do your best to keep it. Being trustworthy is a quality whose benefits never run out. When people can attest that you keep your word, they would go out of their way to do business with you. You might even get more than it was discussed as compensation because of the satisfaction of you fulfilling your end of the bargain. Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No.
God watches over His world to perform and if you believe in Him, then watch over yours too. We are reflectors of His character and if people can’t trust your word, how do you expect them to trust that God is who you say He is?
Let your verily be verily so.
