Today’s Reading: Genesis 27, 28; Psalm 4; Luke 11
Scripture: Luke 11:52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Observation: Jesus is ticked! And what Jesus says here is so interesting because he mentions a "key to knowledge" and tells the teachers that they have taken it away and "hindered those who were entering." I'm not sure just what the "key to knowledge" is but it fascinates me to think that there is such a key and that leaders can do things to make it (and God) inaccessible to people.
Application: I take that to imply that leaders also have the capability to do things to make the key to knowledge more accessible to people. So that makes me ponder, "What kinds of things make this key more accessible and encourage people to enter in?"
In other words, what can I do as a leader to make it easier for people to have access to truth and access to God? Here is a list of things that come to mind: 1) providing clarity in the delivery of the message, 2) using words easy to grasp, 3) removing distractions in the delivery of the message, 4) making the word relevant to the people, 5) the teacher must have character that lines up with the message, 6) telling the truth, 7) respecting people. So these are some that come to me right now. This seems like a "John the Baptist calling": prepare the way for the Lord, make a level path by making the high places lower, the low places higher, and the crooked places straighter. Then get out of the way and let the Lord come through.
(The reverse is also true. If I don't do these things, and, in fact, do the opposite, I am working against God and people can be locked out as a result.)
Prayer: Father, help me to be a man who opens doors for people to be able to have easy access to truth and to you. May my live and message be that which makes the key to knowledge available to all who desire to unlock the door that leads to you.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
