Is it weird to have a favorite commandment? Probably.

Since that’s far from the weirdest thing about me, I’ll go ahead and admit to it anyway. I have a favorite commandment. Do you? Maybe there should be a Buzzfeed quiz. “Answer These TEN Questions to Find Out Which Commandment is Your Motto!” Hmm. Could be fun. But I’m getting off-track a bit here.

My favorite commandment is the eighth commandment. To be more precise, my favorite bit is what the Small Catechism says about it.

The Eighth Commandment

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What is this?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

 What I love about this explanation of the commandment is that it makes it pretty clear that “bearing false witness” is much bigger than telling the truth when called as a character witness in court. Rather, it’s about every time we have to decide how to interpret someone else’s behavior. We always have a choice to assume the best of others. 

Is the cashier brusque because she is being rude or because her boss scolded her for not completing enough transactions each hour and she is worried about keeping her job? Is the toddler throwing a fit in the middle of HyVee because he is spoiled or because it is too loud for his little ears, especially when it’s really nap time? Is your friend not returning your calls because they don’t like you or because they’re stressed and busy? Is someone at church arguing with you because they just don’t care enough or because they care very deeply, and it matters a great deal to them that they express their values? Is that person in line at the food pantry driving a BMW because he is taking advantage of the system or because it's a reliable car he had already paid off when he got a pink slip? Is no one volunteering to join your favorite ministry because they’re all selfish or because they would never imagine themselves in that role unless someone invites them by name?

The examples could go on endlessly. Like I said, every single interaction with each person, whether friend, family, neighbor, or stranger, offers us the opportunity to choose: will I assume the best of this person? Or the worst?

Luther described the Ten Commandments (and the Law altogether) as a curb to prevent humans from harming one another in our everyday lives. In the same way that a speed limit keeps motorists, bikers, and pedestrians safe as we move around our community, these commands keep us safe as we interact with one another. The eighth commandment doesn’t protect our lives, like “you shall not kill,” nor our economies, like “you shall not steal,” but it protects something equally important: our relationships. 

Simply put, you cannot be in a life-giving relationship with someone while constantly believing the worst of them. You cannot be a good neighbor to someone you’re judging. You cannot be a friend to someone and simultaneously take their words and deeds in a poor light.

I said earlier that this is my favorite commandment. I don’t, by any means, say that because I’m scoring a perfect ten out of ten on keeping it. Ha! No, I say that because I know what a difference it makes when my Christian sibling gives me the benefit of the doubt and believes the best of me: it makes me want to prove them right. 

I love this commandment, too, because it is much easier to live with my neighbors in the body of Christ when I believe they are just tired or stressed or hungry than to suspiciously suggest that they are heartless or selfish or cruel. One way of interpreting leads me to compassion; the other, to judgment. Would I rather be compassionate or judgmental? That’s a no brainer.

But I think what I most love about the eighth commandment is the world I imagine if we all followed it all the time. If we all extended grace to each other with every single interaction, assuming the very best of one another all the time, speaking only the good we have to say? It makes me smile just typing it.

May God give us grace us to interpret everything our neighbor does in the best possible light. That would be good. Really good.