\u201cIf a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it, an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor’s property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution.\u201d (Exodus 22:10-11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Trust-300x199.jpg\")
In a culture where truth is seen as relative, it is difficult at times to take others at their word. When the very nature of truth is in question, how shall we believe anyone? No one wants to be gullible. Yet consider what the Lord expected of His people. If one makes an oath that he did not, in this case, harm his neighbor\u2019s property, then that was enough. The man\u2019s word was to be accepted. No further action was required.<\/p>\n
Among Christians especially, we know we are to be people of our word (James 5:12), and we are also to be people of love who bear, believe, hope, and endure all things (I Corinthians 13:7). Start with the best assumptions. Believe the best of another. Assume the person is telling the truth. Don\u2019t be so suspicious of everyone. This is difficult because cynicism has become so ingrained in our culture.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean we are to be gullible, but it does mean we may be vulnerable and we can get hurt. The problem is that we can let how one person hurt us bleed over into other relations so that we trust no one. This can turn us into angry, bitter people who no longer know how to love. God does not want that for us.<\/p>\n
There is no way to have loving relationships and fellowship if we are not willing to show trust. In a fellowship of believers, especially, we ought to be trusting and willing to assume the best of our brothers and sisters. A yes means yes, a no means no, and those words ought to be sufficient for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Whit Sasser \u201cIf a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it, an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[527,129],"class_list":["post-14664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-honesty","tag-trust"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93024,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-pursue-those-who-dont-keep-their-vows\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":0},"title":"Does God pursue those who don’t keep their vows?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, dear pastor, I have a question for you.\u00a0\u00a0Today, while I was reading the Bible, I read Deuteronomy 23:21: \"You must not delay in repaying your vows to the Lord your God, for the Lord your God will seek you back, and you are guilty if you do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9117,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-swear-an-oath-on-a-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":1},"title":"Can a Christian swear an oath on a Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a Christian place his hand on the Bible and swear an oath of any kind? Or, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth, in a courtroom? Or, can a Christian swear, anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances? I find a difference in the word 'affirm' and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-self-incrimination\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":2},"title":"Notes on Self-Incrimination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Law required two or more witnesses to a crime. A person admitting to a crime would be insufficient gain a conviction. Deuteronomy 17:6 \"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-a-child-is-raised-to-be-violent-who-is-responsible-the-parent-or-the-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":3},"title":"When a child is raised to be violent, who is responsible, the parent or the child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently stumbled upon your web site and enjoy it very much. I have a question of my own though that hasn't been answered fully for quite some time now. There are many children who are brought up into violent families such that they learn to imitate their parents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7869,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-inherit-sin-but-do-not-inherit-the-punishment\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":4},"title":"Do we inherit sin, but do not inherit the punishment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In light of Ezekiel 18:20, do you feel we are products of our fathers? Can the sin nature be passed down from our fathers to us? I realize there is no punishment from the sin nature of our fathers to us, but the possibility is always there, is it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32526,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-you-only-not-to-covet-your-neighbors-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":14664,"position":5},"title":"Why are you only not to covet your neighbor’s things?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Deuteronomy 5:21: \"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.\" Why was covetousness mentioned in relation to only the\u00a0neighbor and no one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}