5 Minutes a day / 5 Days a week

with God

We are spending the next two weeks looking at the Ten Commandments and seeing why it's important to follow God's laws.
Yesterday we looked at the 10th commandment, coveting, and today we go to the 9th commandment.

Ex 20:16

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

To bear a false witness is to lie about someone.
So what's so bad about a little white lie? We all do it, right?

Suppose someone where to say that they saw you go into a bar, sit there and have a couple of drinks, and start to talk to someone of the opposite sex. Now let's suppose you are married and this is told to your husband or wife.
But the truth is you really went into a restaurant to meet your brother or sister for lunch.
No bar, no drinking, just a harmless lunch with your brother or sister.

This would be bearing a false witness about you. And what would the results be? Lack of trust by your spouse, and argument with your spouse, and anger towards the person who said this about you.

The same type of thing happened to Jesus. When the chief priests wanted to have Jesus crucified they brought in others to lie about Him, the bad part is they didn't get their stories straight so they were caught in their lies.

Mark 14:55-56 55 Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. 56 For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

It's so easy to speak before we know the truth about something or someone, but it's a lot harder trying to make amends after you find out you were wrong.

So takes God's commandment not to bear false witness to heart.
Don't start talking about others unless you know first hand that it's true. And even if it is true, who is being glorified, the Lord or you because you have some dirt on someone?

E-Mail Home Page