We live in a time that people have no problem accusing others of wrongdoing! They can easily draw a judgment on a situation and claim that they know in their heart who is telling the truth. We should be discerning, and the Lord has given us the spiritual gift of discernment to help us distinguish good from evil. However, the problem comes when we use our spiritual gifts to make accusations that impact other people’s lives.
We cannot go outside of the boundary of God’s ways and use our spiritual gifts to short-cut God’s process of determining the guilt or innocence of someone. Furthermore, the more strongly we feel about a person or a subject matter, the less likely we are hearing God accurately!
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16
The above scripture is one of God’s Ten Commandments that tells us not to bear false witness. There are a couple of major issues with bearing false witness. First of all, God cares very much about someone’s life and reputation, and He does not want us to engage in evil activities by stealing, killing, and destroying someone’s reputation. That kind of behavior is demonic and has no place among God’s people. We all may have opinions about a certain situation, but it is not necessary to share it or try to influence others when we do not have the objective facts to back it up.
Secondly, Jesus called us to be His witnesses. We are to share the gospel with others and tell them about what the Lord has done in our lives. If we are false witnesses against our neighbors, we lose credibility when we want to share Truth with others. People will not trust us because they have seen us destroying and stealing others’ reputation.
Thirdly, being falsely accused is very hurtful. If you have ever been falsely accused of evil, you know how damaging those remarks are. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, if we don’t like to be falsely accused of wrongdoing, we should also treat others how we want to be treated and not give it room in our lives.
No one wants to be the subject of false accusation. We all need to restrain ourselves and tame our tongue from jumping into conclusions and bearing a false witness. We can pray that God would expose and reveal the truth. We can also decide not to engage in conversations that can ensnare us in gossip and backbiting.
