For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
The proverb writer tells us that committing adultery is like scooping flame into your lap…you are going to get burned. Just like it is possible to walk on hot coals with bare feet and not get burned, you may think that you got away with it. However, unlike walking on hot coals, you will suffer negative consequences from adultery, whether or not anybody else ever knows about it.
My heart has heard God say, “Come and talk with me.” All to often, my reply is, “Not now, I’m busy. I’ll get back with you in as soon as I finish this.” I will strive once more to change that and put talking to God at the top of my priority list. If we talk to God every day, He will teach us how to live and show us the path to follow. Our enemies may be waiting for us, but if we follow the path down which God would lead us, we will avoid the traps they have laid for us.
The question which the Pharisee asked Jesus in an attempt to trap Him tells us a lot about how the Pharisees thought, not the question itself, but the fact that they thought it was a trap. Once you have heard Jesus’ answer, it is perfectly obvious. The two basic laws are, “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All of the other laws, rules, and instructions from God are merely expressions of how one follows these two laws. If your understanding of any of those other laws allows (or requires) you to violate either of these two, your understanding is wrong.
Having disposed of their arguments, Jesus condemns the religious leaders of His day (and many since). He tells us not to act so as to “look” righteous. We should do the things we do because they are the right thing to do, not because they cause others to think we are righteous. We are not to call anyone “Master”, or “Father”, or “Teacher”, or any other title which implies that they are somehow closer to God than we are. Just as importantly, we should not let anyone call us by such titles. People read this and think that because they are not using one of the titles Jesus explicitly mentioned that it is OK to call someone “Reverend Jack”, or “Pastor Jack”. Doing the latter is the same as calling someone “Father Jack”. Using such honorifics is an attempt to make someone an intermediary between ourselves and God. We already have such an intermediary in Jesus.
This passage reminds us of how important it is for a leader to delegate tasks to others. One person cannot do it all. First we have the story of the battle against the Amalekites. Moses sent Joshua out to lead the troops, while he went up to the top of a nearby hill to direct troop movements. While Moses was able to keep his arms up, he was able to direct the troops to greatest advantage. When his arms got tired they lost the advantage which Moses’ direction gave them. When Aaron and Hur noticed this, they helped Moses by holding his arms in the air. The Israelites won the battle because Moses was assisted by three able assistants.
Later, when Moses’ father-in-law came to visit he saw that Moses was spending all of his time making decisions about every minor dispute among the Israelites. Jethro observed that this served neither Moses nor the Israelites. Moses was ill-served because he had to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to each case. The Israelites were ill-served because they needed to wait for Moses to go through each of the cases that had been brought up before theirs. Jethro told Moses to appoint some honest, God fearing men to hear the majority of the cases, especially the cases which merely needed an impartial witness to judge the facts.
This is how all leaders need to work. They need to delegate decisions about how to implement policy to others, reserving for themselves only the decisions which determine the overall direction the group will take.