“Bear” Necessities – Devotion for
Most of us have had someone at some point in our lives bear false witness against us. Maybe it was Timmy telling the teacher that you hit him on the playground, when you know for a fact that you did not hit him – you kicked him. Maybe it was your sister Amy telling your mom and dad that you called her a %@#**, when you know for a fact that you did not call her that – you actually called her a *^&(+ <. Or maybe as an adult a coworker accusing you of doing something that you shouldn’t have done, or not doing something that you should have done – when in actuality they are actually trying to cover their own tail-end because they did the wrong thing. Whatever it is, at some point in time in your life, I believe that it would be safe to say that we all have had someone bear false witness against us.
How do you react in those situations? Many times it is easy to become defensive immediately, and try to correct the false witness. Some times we set out to exact vengeance by bearing a false witness of our own against the accuser. Or other times we might just live up to that false witness - I remember once as a kid being accused of doing something that I knew I hadn’t done, so I decided if I was going to get in trouble for it, I might as well do the thing I’m going to get in trouble for. In this day and time very rarely is our first inclination to bear with and forgive the individual who has told a lie about us. However, that is exactly what we are called to do (I know you know that – we all know what we are supposed to do – we just need to be reminded what is expected of us from time to time). This morning I was reading about some of the characteristics of the Christian life as according to the letter to the Colossians 3:12-17. Verse 13 states, “bearing with one another, forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” That verse really is a convicting verse. It’s one thing to be told what we should do, but to follow it up with the whole “just as the Lord forgave you” really hits home. I once read that if you cannot forgive someone else then you better not pray the Lord’s prayer – “forgive us our debts as we forgive others.” In other words, do you really want to be held to the same standard by God that you hold for others? No matter the false witness, the truth will set you free. No matter the offense, we still must bear with one another, and offer forgiveness.
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