Truthful to God? – The Ninth Commandment

Truthful to God?

Exodus 20:16

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Throughout much of the Old Testament Israel tried to hold on to the worship of God and indulge the pagan ways of her neighbors at the same time. This is self-deceptive–withholding truth from ourselves–and an outright insult to God.

The people of Hosea’s day were scrupulous in keeping the feasts and worship of God, but God condemned them for not knowing Him (Hos. 4:1-6), which they evidenced by practicing paganism while they were going through the motions of worshiping God.

We’d never do that–or would we? Do we hurry off to church on Sunday to show the Lord we love Him, then use the rest of the day to engage the pagan practices of our generation?  Do we offer the Lord a pittance of our income while, like our pagan neighbors, we consume the vast bulk of what we make–what God grants us–on ourselves? Do our services of worship seem to be designed more to coddle the god of pop culture or celebrate the God of heaven and earth?

If we are practicing paganism at the same time we’re thinking that we’re worshiping God, we may be lying to Him and ourselves.

If you find that you’re practicing paganism, what should you do? Are you being truthful with God and yourself about this?

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7:12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.