Ninth Commandment

Ninth Commandment         

Exodus 20: 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour”.

Extra Reading: Exodus 20:1-21

A great evangelist and a friend of mine told me one day that we live in an age of the sophisticated lie, and the double standard of morality. This is the age of respectable-appearing lawyers, business leaders, government officials and university professors perjuring themselves on the witness stand. This age also presents the peculiar spectacle of millions of people who believe in evolution attending churches which normally, at least, believe in the Creator God of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible thoroughly condemned the hypocrites of His day. What would He say about our generation?

In some parts of the world, “respectable” church and civic leaders are often ready and willing to support gambling, prostitution and narcotics if it is to their financial advantage to do so. To the community at large, they appear as the pillars of virtue and respectability. To the procurers of prostitutes, narcotics or to big-time gambling czars, they are ready to make an “undercover deal.” They are ready to use their civic influence or position to let organized vice and crime flourish in their community-so long as they get a financial cut. In plain language, they are living a lie! It is only in seeking the truth and bearing witness to the truth that man is associated with God. God is truth. Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). And again: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

No matter what other faults and weaknesses a man may have, if he is willing to speak the truth, live openly and truthfully what he really is, and acknowledge the truth when it is shown to him, that man can be respected and helped to overcome his personal weaknesses. A man whose word is no good, who is in the habit of lying to others and to himself-that man’s very character and mental processes are so twisted and perverted that he can never come to understand even the truth of God until his mind is literally cleaned up! That is why it is so important that-even though among humans there may be honest differences of opinion on many matters-we all learn to live and speak truthfully.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are the God of truth. Will you help us to follow your example. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

Rev. Samuel N. Modise