SCRIPTURE: 2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51; Matthew 23
“You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.
Matthew 23:16-22
OBSERVATIONS: The entire chapter is a polemic against the religion scholars, but we should be careful to note that these are the “professional religion experts.” That means clergy. I find myself on the receiving end of this blast, both as a warning of things I might do and conviction of things I have actually done.
APPLICATION: Joey, there is a right way and a wrong way to be clergy. Seek the right and not the self-righteous. Seek the good and not the rule that is supposed to harness the good. You don’t get where you’re going by running the car alongside the guardrails. Find the lane.
PRAYER: God, give me courage to receive the reproach. Give me strength to find the way through the temptations of status and trappings and honor. Let me seek to be your servant and share the truth of your love for all men and women through Jesus Christ. Amen.
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