When I Accuse Others Falsely
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 19:15-21 (NASB)
15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
SUMMARY
Moses said that there should be two or three witnesses on account of any sin or iniquity for the right judgment. If it is found out that the malicious witness gives a false accusation, he shall be judged and punished as he intended to do to his brother. In the end, God said not to show pity or mercy for those who committed sins, especially about perjury .
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
I believe that the purpose of God’s command in this specific situation on account of false accusation, is not to emphasize revenge, but instead reveals his Love by showing seriousness of sins. We all inherited the sinful nature, the blood of sin from Adam. Whether we recognize it or not, we were slaves to sin, under the mastery of Satan, keeping the sinful nature, until we realized and believed that we have been crucified with Christ on the Cross and Jesus lives in us (Galatians 2:20). It is only until we truly realize that we are dirty and hopeless sinners without Jesus Christ, the only Savior, Son of God, the truth, light, the way, our sins can be washed away through his blood so that we can be reconciled with God, our Father.
The false accusation against brothers can happen by mistake. However, it mostly happens due to our sinful desires: jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, impurity, indulging in evil thoughts, arrogance, and covetousness. In this matter, I cannot be free from this sin of false accusation. Outwardly I do not generally assault a charge against a brother by giving a false testimony. However, through this message today, God reveals and rebukes me that I am no different from those false accusers.
I am in the management position in a retail company. Most managers are not transferred to another location unless they requested for transfer or they had issues in the relationships or management ability. However, once my workplace became stabilized and successful, God moved me to a different location where there is a different level of difficulty and challenge (I’ve been transferred to a different location 5 times for the last 10 years).
In my current workplace, I believe that God gave me another assignment: to be patient with my team members and embrace and love them with the Love from God, not my own love. Seeking Jesus in the workplace regardless of their behaviors, attitudes or work abilities, I am being turned, little by little, into the way that God wants me to be. Since I seriously realized that I am a sinful man, a man full of evil without Jesus, with humility, I was able to be patient with them and bring God’s love into my workplace. Sometimes, I had experienced God’s exhibition of his divine characteristics, goodness and love. I had observed God’s touching graciously on them.
However, when I am in severe pain and weakness (I’ve been having chronic pain), that is the time when Satan tries to instill evil thoughts: false accusations. Satan is a deceiving spirit, very smart enough to give rational reasons why I should be upset with my team members and even with my family. The reasons infiltrated by Satan are so sharp, rational, and appropriate that I am sometimes deceived and act according to his evil purpose, resulting in accusing and criticizing them falsely in my heart. However, my witness, my helper, the one who lives in me, does not agree with me. In the end, I came to realize that Jesus is saddened by me because I embraced Satan's thoughts. It was like when Cain committed a horrible sin by killing his younger brother, Abel, after he held Satan's evil desire, anger, when the sin tried to enter him. According to the book of ‘Genesis’, the sin was crouching at the door of Cain’s heart and dominating him when Cain was trying to hold the evil thought, instead of driving it away.
The other day, I spent one of the busiest and toughest days in my life at the workplace. The day before work, I prayed to God for my team members, not just for their problems confronted, but for their salvations. Of course, Satan was furious, trying to attack not just me but also my pharmacy teams the next day. Strangely, some of the customers were upset with us, about issues unrelated to our works. I did not have a chance to take a sip of water for 13 hours of work except lunch time. I had the highest volume of work on that day. I helped more than half of my techs’ work in order to make the workflow smooth as well as have my techs less burdens on their shoulders. Throughout the day, I have been praying to God to give us peace, the peace of Jesus Christ. Finally, all the tasks were successfully completed by God’s grace. I felt victorious and excited, but extremely tired and had severe pain in my whole body.
After work, I came home, parked my car in the garage and entered my house, Satan was waiting for me to relieve my tension and unarmed. I forgot that I am still at a war, the spiritual war. I took off my armor of Jesus Christ! I was too relaxed. I went to the bathroom for shower, and saw my wife in bed through the curtain, reading something on her tablet. she said Hi to me. But, somehow, she was seemingly blunt. I felt like I was not welcomed.
After shower, I went to my study room. Satan is trying to put anger against my wife in my heart, just because I felt that she did not seem to be glad to see me! I began to judge her and accuse her falsely. As a matter of fact, she must have been exhausted with her work as well as taking care of two kids with online classes. She might not even have strength to smile at me or come out of bed to ask how I was today. I was too exhausted to fight sins and so I just went to bed. The unresolved sins, anger and false judgment, continues even in my workplace the next day. Instead of loving my team members, I saw myself criticizing them, not by God’s way, questioning why this technician was not able to handle these works even though I helped a lot, why the other tech was so lazy and sneaky, why another tech was so short of common sense that I had to give directions all the time after years of experiences, how long I should be patient with them, and so on. The fact is, all my technicians might do their best, struggling with pressures, burdens, fatigue, and expectations from customers as well as me. Besides, more than that, Satan was trying to break us down, whether they realize it or not.
I was a faithful and sincere soldier of God at one time. However, I am now full of evil thoughts, accusing my wife falsely as well as criticizing and slandering the people entrusted by God in my pharmacy. I suddenly became the judge who decides which is right or wrong based on my standards. Besides, I was committing a horrible sin to God by thinking that I became what I am, not by God’s grace and mercy, but by my own strength. I just did not make a sin of false accusation, but also sins of anger, hatred, judgement, arrogance, and pride.
As far as I think, the reason why God said ‘life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot’, is to tell Israel people the seriousness of sins as well as the influences of sins on other people (Deuteronomy 19: 19, 20). The wage of sin is death. With sins and without repentance of sins, we cannot come to God. God is Holy. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (1John 1:5). Therefore, I believe that God gives warning to his people not even to think about committing sins, by allowing these harsh punishments: eye for eye and tooth for tooth. This is God’s Love. He is merciful, gracious, kind, and generous, but he is strict and stern with sins for our own sakes (Roman 11:22).
APPLICATION
I am a sinner. Sometimes, I feel like I am worthless and useless with no hope. I am full of frustration and discouragement. I do not understand why God still forgives me and loves me. Because of His love, mercy, grace and faithfulness, I cannot give up presenting myself to God even though I feel I am hopeless.
How can I resolve to do away with false accusation and judging and slandering against my family and my brothers and sisters, especially in such a situation that I can hardly control myself consciously due to extreme fatigue and pain?
According to the book of ‘Roman’, the apostle Paul said, ‘For the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’. I should try to grasp Jesus, the eternal life, firmly with all my strength and with all my heart, not to fall away from his Grace. So, I pray that the glory and life of Jesus is revealed by the Holy Spirit in my life (John 16:14).
Yesterday, my family went to The Source mall to have lunch with my mom and sister. However, when I arrived at my parent’s house, there were some arguments between my mom and sister. It was becoming more serious. Usually in this situation, I try to be quiet and question myself why they are so acting like this, judging them. However, somehow, I felt that this might be Satan’s attack (I might be wrong). That early morning when I presented myself to God, I blessed my parents and my sister with all my heart. Whether it is a spiritual attack or not, I began to pray to God to give us peace and show the glory of Jesus among us, while driving and eating at the food court, asking God’s grace and guidance. God was amazing! The lunch could have been cancelled because of the fight. However, we had a great time later. When I was on the way home, I was so excited that I praised the Lord. Yes, seeking Jesus is the key! When Apostle Paul mentioned that he dies every day (1st Corinthians 15:31), I believe that he did not only mean that he was in danger of death due to Gospel, but also showed his attitude that he was willing to and ready to die for Gospel every single day. That should be my attitude every day of my life: I should be willing to die for revealing Jesus, the truth, the light, the glory, whether I work or have a break from work, whether I read God’s words and pray or I spend time with my family and friends.
Lastly, God gave me another answer how to deal with such sins through a missionary’s testimony From the book of John (10:27), Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”. The sheep goes a wrong way easily. However, by listening to only their shepherd’s voice, the sheep turns back and comes back to him from the wrong way. Satan will try to seduce me with this kind of sin again. However, when there is a moment that Sin is trying to dwell in me, Jesus, who is our helper and intercessor, will call me and guide me to the light. I should open my ears and eyes to him whether I am sick or tired, to follow Jesus. More than that, I should be obedient to God’s commands with all my heart and strengths. When I try to forgive, help, serve, embrace, bless, love, pray and care for people whom I cannot do with my own strength as well as whom I am very reluctant to, because it is God’s will, I believe that I might be able to listen to the voice of Jesus well, whispering in my heart. From the book of Proverbs (24:16), it is said, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes''. The righteous person from the point of view of God is the person who does not give up on following Jesus. Even though I fall a thousand times, I should not give up following my Lord, Jesus. I pray that I clothe myself with Christ every day.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for leading me the way of salvation through realization and repentance of my sins. I praise your name. You are faithful, merciful and gracious.
I ask you, Lord, with all of my heart to fill me with the Holy Spirit as well as give me the gift of Love, the love from you. With your love dwelling in me, I pray that I am able to follow the way that Jesus lived, even a little.
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