July 24
Laying Hands Hastily
1 Timothy 5:22

  1. Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thus share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. (New American Standard)
  1. Do not be in a hurry in the laying on of hands—giving the sanction of the church too hastily [in reinstating expelled offenders or in ordination in questionable cases]—nor share or participate in another man’s sins; keep yourself pure. (Amplified Bible)

By laying on of hands ‘too hastily’ he’s saying we shouldn’t be too quick to restore someone who was in leadership and got off into sin, or to install someone into an office within the church.  If a person has areas of sin in their life they are not dealing with or not having victory in they should not be put into a leadership position.  By doing so, we would be condoning the sin in their life.  We are to keep ourselves pure or free from sin in this way.

Remember that we are not the judges of people but the Word of God is the judge.  We are not to judge according to our own opinions or according to a set of qualifications and standards that we have set up and established but we’re to judge everything according to the Word of God.

We may judge outwardly according to the flesh but God judges the hearts.  We have to be open and sensitive to the Lord in everything to ensure we are accurately judging in cases like this.

 

Confession:

I will remain open and sensitive to the Spirit of God concerning the laying on of hands to restore or install a person into a leadership position.  I’ll not condone sin but I will judge by the Word of God and Spirit of God and not just according to outward appearance.

 

 

Obedience is a tree of life!