Weekly Devotion: The Eighth Commandment

This week's devotion covers the Eighth Commandment:

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

Oh man!  Where to start?!?  Click through to find out...

Our first realization upon reading this commandment should probably be that we've broken it...multiple times...pounded it into unrecognizable rubble really.  Therefore our first response should probably be, "Sorry God!  Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!  Really sorry!"

And how did we get to this point of having to apologize profusely before our Lord and Maker?  Even if we've kept to the strict truth about our neighbors and never accused them falsely in a court of law, we've not always defended them, we've not always spoken well of them, and we've really...really...really not always explained everything about them in the kindest possible way.

How many times have you heard something said that you knew was wrong, misleading, or hurtful and failed to speak up?  Hearing the latest bit of juicy gossip without interrupting and saying, "No thanks"...watching someone make an uncomfortable, insulting comment or joke about another person and not responding against it...hearing someone rant in a one-sided political explanation that's full of half-lies and oversimplifications...all of these are failure to defend your neighbor.  I can't even think of the number of people in school, from elementary on up, that kids insulted unfairly, accused of horrible things, made fun of, called "fat" or "ugly" or "dumb".  All of that broke this commandment too and we did nothing to stop it.  That means we were commandment breakers every bit as much as the people who hurled those insults.  The kids who had the good fortune to not be picked on that day sat silent, thinking, "Thank goodness it's not me!"  Which was worse, risking being condemned by brutish peers or disappointing God because we didn't have the courage to say, "That's not true!" when one of his children was attacked and made to feel flawed and unimportant? 

How many of us have failed to speak well of other people, let alone explaining their actions in the kindest possible way?  Here's a simple rule if you want to be happy in life:  assume the best about other people and their motivations.  When confronted with something that seems like less than the best, try to find the most reasonable, understandable, and charitable interpretation of it.  Only after you've exhausted all of these options should you make room for anger.  And if that anger arises, it should probably come in response to that person hurting someone else and it should be directed at the offender, not whispered behind his back in corners while he continues.

Short of situations where we know innocent people are getting hurt or something untrue is being publicly witnessed about God and we have to act, we should all spend more time trying to understand, forgive, and speak well of people instead of hurting and condemning them.

It's ironic that the churches charged with bearing this commandment are also the worst breeders of the kind of gossip, rumor, slander, backdoor conversation, and failure to understand or explain things kindly which break it.  Sometimes people seem to delight in finding the worst possible explanation for events, especially if that event bothers them.  Exaggeration, misinterpretation...we could give politicians a run for their money.  What happened to the kindness, grace, and love that are our birthrights?  When we see an opening to chatter those seem to go right out the window...not always, but often enough.

I don't even want to know what kind of buzzing goes around a small town in some circles.  I've heard snippets of horrible stories before and that's all I care to hear.

Some spouses delight in dishing on each other, building relationships with friends based on complaining about their spouse or family.  This, too, breaks the "false witness" commandment.

I'm pretty selective about what I watch on TV or hear on radio because this commandment is broken for entertainment purposes all the time.  And by the way, you won't hear me preaching sermons about "those Muslims" or "those people in China" and we aren't very fond of sentences that start with "those Arabs" or what have you either.  Do those sentences contain the kindest possible explanation or their opposite?

I cannot imagine why people would want to lend an ear to so many people breaking the Eighth Commandment.  I cannot imagine why, given a choice, people would want to think badly of each other or give power to that which defines the other as "bad".

People usually mean well by the things they do.  Not everything turns out right, but people usually act out of noble intention.  You'll understand and enjoy people a lot more--and have a better community--if you start with that as your basis for talking to and about people.  It's not always easy to explain things in the kindest possible way.  Sometimes it's near impossible.  But that doesn't absolve us from trying.

When we do try, when we put our hearts and souls into taking care of each other and having compassion for each other instead of tearing each other down, we'll find that 95% of our "problems" disappear.  The dirty little secret of breaking the Eighth Commandment:  it doesn't reveal sin, it creates it...often where there was none before.

Our task for this week:  less complaining, zero gossiping, and stop listening to people who explain things in any way but the kindest because they think we're just eating that stuff up.    In the place of these things should come more tolerance, trying to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, and words that fill the space between us with kindness, support, dignity, and love.  Our words have great power for good and for evil.  Before we speak, or give support to another person's words by listening, we should make sure which purpose is being lived out by these utterances.

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)