40 Days of Truth - 24
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of TRUTH
Day 24 | PRACTICING THE TRUTH
40 Days of TRUTH
Day 24 | PRACTICING THE TRUTH
PRACTICING THE TRUTH
Exodus 20:16
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (ESV)
Have you considered how the Ten Commandments are KEY to our legal system? This verse is the 9th Commandment. People may not realize the source pf these commandments, but the laws of civilized societies around the globe have their basis there. America is founded on them as well.
Though this command has to do with the legal process, in an extended sense we break it through slander, tale-bearing, giving a false impression, questioning someone’s motives, sometimes by our silence, and even by unearned flattery.
Colossians 3:9 puts it like this: “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.”
In today’s America, we see this command being broken en masse.
For example:
Redpath goes on to say, “How very strange that we have ever come to think that Christian maturity is shown by the ability to speak our minds, whereas it is really expressed in controlling our tongues. What a startling revelation it would be if a tape recording could be played of all that every church member has said about his fellow members in one week!”
Prayer: Lord, help me to get better at using my mouth, my tongue, my words ONLY in ways that are true, honest, edifying, uplifting, and pleasing in YOUR sight. Oh, and by the way Lord, thank You for those brilliant Ten Commandments which are still very relevant today. Amen.
Exodus 20:16
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (ESV)
Have you considered how the Ten Commandments are KEY to our legal system? This verse is the 9th Commandment. People may not realize the source pf these commandments, but the laws of civilized societies around the globe have their basis there. America is founded on them as well.
Though this command has to do with the legal process, in an extended sense we break it through slander, tale-bearing, giving a false impression, questioning someone’s motives, sometimes by our silence, and even by unearned flattery.
Colossians 3:9 puts it like this: “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.”
In today’s America, we see this command being broken en masse.
For example:
- “SLANDER” – is an invented lie designed to cause harm to someone. In our political and politically-correct climate, with “fake news” so rampant, getting to the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” – especially in the “court of popular opinion” – is becoming nearly impossible. It’s not easy to discern the true from the false from the “slanted with political spin” when watching the news.
- “TALE BEARING” – is repeating a story about someone without first having determined the truthfulness of the story. This happens to me often as well-meaning people send me stories about this or that hoping I’ll forward it along (which I almost never do) so as to influence others in some way. If on a rare occasion I do forward something, I try diligently to research the FACTS and ensure that everything I’m sending – with MY name attached (via email) is true.
- “SILENCE” – Inappropriate silence may also break this command. “When someone utters a falsity about another and a third person is present who knows that statement to be untrue but, for reasons of fear or being disliked, remains quiet, that third person is as guilty of breaking this law as if he had told a lie.” -Redpath Bible Commentary
Redpath goes on to say, “How very strange that we have ever come to think that Christian maturity is shown by the ability to speak our minds, whereas it is really expressed in controlling our tongues. What a startling revelation it would be if a tape recording could be played of all that every church member has said about his fellow members in one week!”
- “FALSE WITNESS” – in some ways, we might say that that is what sent Jesus to the cross.
Prayer: Lord, help me to get better at using my mouth, my tongue, my words ONLY in ways that are true, honest, edifying, uplifting, and pleasing in YOUR sight. Oh, and by the way Lord, thank You for those brilliant Ten Commandments which are still very relevant today. Amen.
Posted in Truth