Leading Others Astray

Scripture: Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.” Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Ezekiel 8:12-14

Observation: The spirit is showing Ezekiel the abominations committed by Judah. He begins by showing him images of other gods planted within the temple. Then shows something worse ... the elders and leaders and priests worshiping in secret. Then show something worse ... one lone, unnamed, unknown woman, performing the mourning of Tammuz (worshiping the Sumerian god of harvest).

This is an escalation of sin and abominations. Beyond defiling God's own temple, and priests and leaders worshiping other gods, is this: One most-ordinary person who has been lead astray. This is the true heart of God! Yes, he will bring his justice to bear upon leaders and nations that have turned away from him, abandoned his love, forsaken his blessings, and openly defied his commandments. However, even worse is when the leaders have mislead their sheep. It is one thing for multitudes of "great men" to break the commandments, but it is far worse when one impressionable and rather anonymous person breaks the laws because she simply does not know better and is following the leaders.

Application: Two weeks ago, I heard the phrase "leadership matters a lot" repeatedly. It's easy to put that into a daily life or business context. However, this is so much more true in the world and in the area of faith. This very day, our "leaders" invoke talk of idol worship - the idols being money, power, self-realization, sexuality, codependency, etc.

Our leaders advance and promote subjects in direct contradiction to God, and entirely independent of God. "Common people" join right in. This is our greatest abomination today. We talk about and effectively worship some form of control, pursuit, act, or achievement. We don't lead others in conversations about faith and a right understanding of how God acts daily in our lives and the world around us. We must not lead others astray. We must demonstrate faith in Jesus and worship of God so that, at the very least, others have a clear example of hope and faith and love through us.

Prayer: Lord, please grant me that wisdom today to show my faith in you this day to others. I am not often good at this. Help me to be a leader whom others mimic in a positive way when it comes to belief in Jesus. Amen.