7 Things Spiritual Leaders Should Be Concerned About

So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. —  Malachi 2:4-7

So at this point, God is reminding these spiritual leaders about his long-standing covenant with the men of the cloth. His covenant with spiritual leaders began with a man named Levi, whom God appointed as the first of the priestly order. And God's promise to Levi and all his descendants was life and peace founded on righteous fear. But this promise came with expectations. Their role involved the seven things listed here:

1. Honoring God's name.
2. Holding to the truth
3. Speaking the truth.
4. Living by the truth.
5. Redirecting people with the truth.
6. Guarding the truth.
7. Instructing people in the truth.

Everything revolved around God and his truth. And here is what they were not to do — make up their own truth. Which, by the way, is what we see happening all across our culture today. People just make up their own truth. They are redefining terms, inventing genders, fabricating policies, and inventing ideas based on personal biases they call truth, which is only their version of the truth. Therefore the world is acting crazy trying to serve all these ideologies because there is no consistent basis for truth.

And this should never happen in the church. The church belongs to God. It's his institution. He determines the truth. Spiritual leaders do not get to decide. They are merely purveyors of God's truth. Their job again is to hold to it, speak it, live it, redirect to it, guard it, and instruct in it, which brings honor to God's name. Their choice is to join God and one of the oldest covenants in the bible or get out of his way. Because God's truth will stand, and if you are attending a church that is not holding to the truth, proceed with caution because that church is just making up its own truth. And I don't know if you want to be there when God comes to deal with those spiritual leaders.

ASK THIS: Do your spiritual leaders do the seven things above?

DO THIS: Test the truth and the messengers of the truth.

PRAY THIS: God, I am a truth seeker. Please guide me to your truth.

PLAY THIS: The Truth.