For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Fire is used to test the purity of gold and silver, but you can measure a person by how they react to praise. No matter what you do, or how hard you try, a fool will not give up his foolish ideas. If by some chance you do convince a fool that one of his ideas is foolish, he will replace it with another just as foolish.

    The psalmist reminds us that the glory for our successes should go to God. Any success which I have in this life is because of God’s mercy and grace. It was His gifts to me which made me able to accomplish anything of worth. It is not I who deserves the credit, but rather God.

    Today’s passage starts out with four instructions that all fit together. We are to continue loving each other, show hospitality to strangers, and remember those suffering (being imprisoned and mistreated are both forms of suffering) as if we were experiencing that suffering ourselves.
    The next couple of things fit together with these as well. Everyone should honour marriage, even those who are not married. Those of us who are married must remain faithful to our spouse. Those who are not married should encourage those who are married to remain faithful to each other. Remaining faithful to your husband or wife involves more than just sex.
    The final point that stands out to me today is “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” This does not mean that we should resist change. However, as the writer points out, it does mean that we should reject new teachings, that is, teachings which do not have their basis in the Bible. It is sometimes argued that the anti-slavery movement represented a new teaching because slavery is mentioned in the Bible, even in the New Testament, and not condemned (it can be argued that it was even indirectly supported). However, the anti-slavery movement was against a culture which viewed certain people as less than human. The anti-slavery movement arose when all slaves in Western Civilization were derived from the same racial background and enslaving them was justified on the basis of claiming that they were not truly human. Such a claim is counter to the teachings of the Bible, even those places where it discusses slavery. As a result, the anti-slavery movement relied on Christian teachings of long standing. Some more recent teachings rely on the claim that loving my neighbor means not confronting him or her about behaviors which cause them to be distanced from God. I cannot accept that approach.

    Ezekiel returns once more to the theme of the watchman. There are two points to this metaphor. The first is that God does not take pleasure from the death and destruction of the wicked. He would rather that they turn from their wicked behavior and live. The death and destruction of the wicked is only inevitable if they keep on sinning. The second point of this metaphor is that it is our duty as servants of God to warn people of the death and destruction which is coming for them. Do we love those around us enough to warn them of the dangers inherent in their sinful behavior? Have we spoken out as loudly against greed as we have against sexual sins? Have we warned those who oppress the poor that their actions will lead to their destruction as surely as sexual sins will lead to the destruction of those who partake in them?
    Ezekiel than goes on to speak about those spiritual leaders who use their position to enrich themselves rather than to care for the flock. Spiritual leaders who are more interested in what is in it for themselves than in the needs of the people they lead. They do not assist the weak, nor care for the sick. They do bind the wounds of the injured, nor go searching for the lost. While he is discussing his condemnation of spiritual leaders, Ezekiel makes his first comment directed at all of us. Not only did the spiritual leaders not go looking for the lost, no one else did either. Ezekiel continues by warning us that God will judge even the common person for their actions. God will judge between the “fat” sheep and the “skinny” sheep. What role have we played in driving others away from God? Have we kept the best “grazing” for ourselves and trampled the rest? Have we bullied the weak and driven them from God?