4-5-2018

Good Morning All,

              Exodus 20:16; ““You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

      As I was traveling home from a Bible study and listening to my local public radio station, the news story was about a recent study that the Twitter Inc. did on its “tweets.”  Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages called tweets.  Yet they found something that is most fascinating.  False tweets, one that are inaccurate whether intentional or unintentional, expand at a rate 70% faster than true or accurate tweets.  In other words, lies spread faster than the truth.

    Apparently, Winston Churchill was right; a lie does get half way around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.  Lies spread faster; this is something that many of us have always believed but now we even have statistical and analytical documentation.  Lies spread with an amazing amount of temerity; why is that?  Is it because we tend to check and recheck the truth or is it because we, by sinful nature love good gossip and the juicier the better?  Maybe it is we like to appear to be in the know or we like the superiority we feel when we can “dish the goods” on someone.  Whatever our reason; it is a sinful fallacy.  Nothing good comes from a lie.

    Lies destroy relationships.  Lies destroys trust.  Lies cause people to build up walls of separation.  So, when we engage in lies, we are doing the devil’s work.  We cause pain and suffering for all involved.  Relationships, both with others and with God, suffer and degrade.  So, God calls upon us to tell the truth and to not lie.

    Luther reveals a unique truth in his explanation of this commandment.  First and foremost, it calls upon us to not lie, to not make false statements about our neighbors.  Yet Luther adds the understanding that we should speak well of our neighbor and put the best thought on what he does.  So, we defend our neighbor not sit quietly while he is run down by others nor do we join in.

    This can be especially needful in our instant news society.  Especially when the certainty of the accuracy might be missing.  When we read or hear something we should ask ourselves; is it truthful and is it helpful?  If it doesn’t pass this simple standard, we should rethink our action.  This should be especially true now when the world does not place a premium on the truth; we should.  We, as God’s redeemed children, need to make a difference.  The world will not change unless we act and act according to God’s will.  Don’t bear false witness but place the best on everything and everyone.  This is a God pleasing life.

Father of all mercy, lead me by your Spirit to put the best on all things my neighbor does.  Lead me to speak your love and to speak well of my neighbor.  Take from me the desire to gossip or to cause my neighbor pain by speaking lies about him.  Bring about healing and forgiveness where this has already occurred.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret