The Small Catechism – part 94
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Click for a recording of today's lesson.
From the Confessions: The Small Catechism, The Eighth Commandment
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not betray, slander, lie, or gossip about our neighbors, but defend them, speak well of them, and put the most charitable construction on all that they do.
Pulling It Together: What if God did not think the best of us? We would be hopeless. If each time he looked at us, he thought of us as irredeemable, each time he heard us, he considered us deplorable, each time he knew our hearts and minds, he found us sickening, we would be despondent.
Instead, the Father thinks the best of us by viewing us through the filter of his Son. May we see our brothers and sisters in the same way — endure them if necessary, but hope for their best because of Christ.
Prayer: Give me your patient strength, Lord, so that I may be patient with others. Amen.
Click here for resources to learn the Ten Commandments.
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Author
Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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