2 Kings 20:1-22:2 / Acts 21:18-36 / Psalm 150 / Proverbs 18:9-10
False means not according with truth, deliberately meant to deceive, treacherous or unfaithful. Accusation means a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong. A false accusation according to these two definitions almost looks like a double negative since neither is positive in nature. When we accuse someone of something, we are never being complimentary.
In Acts 21 Paul is being accused of preaching and telling the Jews not to follow the law, which he was not doing. The text doesn’t say why Paul was being accused or even who was doing the accusing. It states “the Jewish believers here in Jerusalem have been told…” By whom? It sounds like here-say along with the false accusation.
What was the motive behind the false accusation? We don’t have an answer to that either, although many times in scripture it was the religious leaders who were bringing accusations based on jealousy. So, maybe that was the who and the why in this case.
There was another in scripture who was falsely accused. The religious leaders accused Him of blasphemy, of being God or equal with God. That’s because they were not able to see that Jesus was God who had come to earth in the form of mankind. The religious leaders in this case were jealous because Jesus had people who believed His teaching and were following Him.
What about you? Have you ever been falsely accused? I always say it’s hard enough to be harassed for the things I have done, but my goodness why must I be harassed for things I did not do? At least when I feel this way, I’m reminded I’m in good company with Paul and Jesus, and I’m sure many other believers throughout the centuries. Maybe there is not a why.
Maybe I need to learn to respond in humility and not anger. Maybe I need to, instead of accusing others, ask questions to find out the truth. I’ve learned that asking questions allows me to find out that a lot of times, the thing I suspected was not a thing at all. I think I’ve talked about this before, but I want to say it again.
When my children were small, I taught them to come into a room with their mouths closed, then assess what’s happening before they spoke. What if we did that with one another? What if we kept our mouths closed, listened, asked good questions and most importantly asked God for wisdom in hearing what is really happening in a situation.
You know that old saying we have in our court system – innocent until proven guilty. We must treat others that way! We must not assume people are evil, up to no good, or wrong until they prove otherwise. I prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt, all while keeping a watchful and discerning eye.
None of this is meant to say we just trust everyone with everything. We must walk in wisdom and discerning of spirits as followers of Jesus Christ. If we don’t, people we love, including ourselves, could be harmed. We’ve had seasons where we missed it and seasons where we’ve been right on target. My prayer is to be on target more than I miss.
Maybe the next time you’re falsely accused you could ask questions of your accuser to try to ascertain how they arrived at the false conclusion. Pray to be patient and kind – I know that’s hard when you’re being accused. Allow Holy Spirit to take control and the situation may just turn out for the good of all.
Godspeed as you do relationship with God and others!
