Pundayschool · Episode 11 companion
I'll Pray About It: a devotional for anyone who has dodged a sign-up sheet
A quick devotional for busy people: 3 to 5 minutes, start to finish. Read it or listen to it, whichever fits your morning: a coffee break, a commute, or the two minutes before the rest of the house wakes up. When you reach the bottom, you have done today's devotional.
This devotional, from Pundayschool Episode 11, "The I'll Pray About It No," looks at Matthew 5:37 and the church habit of saying "I'll pray about it" to dodge an ask we already know we do not want to say yes to. Jesus's instruction is simpler than we make it: let your yes be yes, and your no, no. A plain no is not unspiritual. Dressing an avoidance up in the language of prayer is what actually blurs the honesty prayer is supposed to have. Today's step is one honest sentence instead of one holy-sounding exit.
Watch the short first
Pundayschool · EP 11 · 71 seconds
The I'll Pray About It No
I feel an immediate release from this.
Posting soon
The short has not posted yet. The day it goes live at @pundayschool, the video will play right here. The devotional below stands on its own, so read on.
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Reading Matthew 5:37
"All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
Matthew 5:37, NIV
Prefer to listen?
The wider passage, Matthew 5:33 to 37, read aloud in the King James Version. About 40 seconds.
The sheet comes round the hall. Someone needs help stacking chairs. Someone needs help pouring coffee. Someone needs help staying after to clean up. And before we have even thought about it, out it comes: "I'll pray about it."
The second the phrase leaves our lips, something soft settles in. Our shoulders drop. The pressure disappears. We have discovered the perfect holy-sounding escape hatch: no awkward no, no explanation needed, just a spiritual pause that somehow never quite ends.
Most of us are not trying to be dishonest when we say it. A plain "no" just feels unchristian, so we dress it up in holiness instead. But Jesus, teaching on plain speech in Matthew 5, gives us something simpler than a holy exit: let your yes be yes, and your no, no. Anything more than that, he says, comes from somewhere it should not.
That is worth sitting with. The dodge is not really a prayer. It is a decision we have already made, wearing a costume so it does not have to look like one.
Grace can handle an honest no. It cannot do much with a borrowed one.
Three honest questions
No need to answer out loud. Just sit with these for a moment, between you and God.
- What is the last thing you said "I'll pray about it" to, and did you actually pray about it, or did the sentence just do its job and end the conversation?
- What would it cost you, right now, to give one honest yes or no instead of a holy-sounding pause?
- Where have you let "I'll pray about it" become a habit rather than an actual prayer?
A short prayer
Pray it slowly, in these words or your own.
Father, thank you that you can handle a plain no as easily as a plain yes. Forgive us for reaching for holy-sounding language when what we actually mean is "not this time" or "not me." Give us the courage to say a real yes when we mean it, and a gracious no when we do not, without dressing either one up as something it is not. Let our yes be yes, and our no, no. Amen.
One step for today
There is a whole rest of today left, and it needs exactly one thing from you.
Give one honest answer. The next time you are asked for something today, big or small, skip the holy-sounding pause. Say a real yes, or say a gracious no. Either one, said plainly, is more faithful than a prayer you were never actually going to pray.
And if you catch yourself reaching for "I'll pray about it" out of habit, that is fine, just notice it. Noticing is most of the work.
You're done
That is the whole devotional. No extra reading, no follow-up task, nothing to sign up for. If one line stuck with you, say it back to God once more before the day picks up speed. That counts. You have done today's devotional.
Questions people ask
What does Matthew 5:37 mean?
Jesus is teaching against the practice of swearing elaborate oaths to make a promise sound more binding. Instead, he tells his listeners to let their yes simply mean yes, and their no simply mean no. Anything added on top of a plain answer, he says, comes from a place it should not. In practice it means our word should be trustworthy on its own, without extra decoration to make it sound more spiritual or more certain.
Why do we say "I'll pray about it" when we really mean no?
Because a plain no can feel blunt, even unkind, especially inside a church community where everyone is trying to be gracious. "I'll pray about it" sounds humble and spiritual, and it buys us an exit without a confrontation. The trouble is that it borrows the language of prayer for something that usually is not prayer at all, it is a decision we have already made.
Is it ever okay to say I'll pray about it?
Yes, when it is true. Some decisions genuinely need time, wisdom, and prayer before an honest answer is possible. The issue this devotional points at is not the phrase itself, it is using the phrase as a reflex to avoid a no we have already decided on. If you truly need to pray about it, say so, and actually do.
What does "let your yes be yes" mean in everyday life?
It means our answers should not need extra dressing up to be believed or accepted. A commitment we make should be kept without needing an oath behind it, and a decline we give should be stated plainly rather than hidden behind a vague, open-ended holy phrase. Simple, truthful speech is the standard Jesus sets, in a sign-up sheet moment as much as anywhere else.
Where can I watch The I'll Pray About It No?
Episode 11 goes live soon at @pundayschool on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, and the video will be embedded at the top of this page the day it posts. Bookmark this page or follow @pundayschool to catch it first.