The Hair Reminder

The words of Jesus contain great wisdom from God Himself and insight.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 5:33-37:  "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' ³⁴ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; ³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷ But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."  After receiving the Law of Moses that commanded Hebrews to keep their oaths, what developed was people felt obligated to speak truthfully only when they swore an oath.  Some made their honesty contingent on the perceived worthiness of what they swore upon and thus justified breaking their oaths!  Jesus taught man ought to speak the truth without swearing on anything.  He does not swear falsely who does not swear at all.

Tucked away in the middle of this paragraph is an important observation:  "...you cannot make one hair white or black."  Jesus is not referring to our ability (or inability!) to dye our hair black or white.  We can dye our hair any colour of the rainbow or shave off all our hair, but the point Jesus made is we do not have the power to choose or change our "natural" colour.  As people age it is common to dye hair to cover up the grey, and others who are balding may shave it short or completely bald.  It isn't long before dyed or shaved hair grows back, and we have no power in ourselves to change the natural colour of a single hair.

In contrast to our powerlessness, the LORD God Who created us reigns and rules over all people.  It is His sovereign choice to fashion each one of us in the womb and made us male or female, gave us facial features, bone structure, and He determined our hair and eye colour.  While we might attempt to cover, hide, or change these things, it is God who created us as it pleased Him.  No hair dye, hair cut, clothing, name change or surgical procedure can fundamentally change who we are before God.  Amazingly, the opportunity exists for everyone to become a new creation by faith in Jesus Christ, by surrendering our lives before our Creator and Saviour and being born again through the Gospel.  We have no power to make one hair white or black, but in Christ we are given the power to speak truth and walk accordingly.

Everything we say is before the sovereign LORD who hears and knows all, and He also knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.  Perjury is a grave crime in a courtroom punishable by law, and God is the One who judges us, whether our 'Yes' was 'Yes' and our 'No' was 'No.'  We can cover up our grey hair or dye our few remaining dark hair silver, but we cannot hide a word before God.  It is good for us before we go to the judgment seat of Christ to confess our lies and deceit and repent, thus receiving forgiveness from our Saviour and choose to speak honestly and sincerely.  We have no power to change what we have already said, but every hair on our bodies provides a reminder of our divine call to speak truth going forward as God does.