Not Able To Be Blackmailed

# 76 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Do you have a heart's longing to be a bishop, an overseer of a local congregation? Do you long for other overseers like Timothy to pass the God-ordained office along to you through the laying on of hands? That is a good thing to be sure! But it takes more than heart-felt desire. There are requirements to be met to ensure that Timothy and his like will not lay hands on you hastily. For starters you must be blameless. Okay, now that we have eliminated virtually everybody, let's move on. What is blameless? There is none righteous no not one!(Rom 3:10) All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Something else must be meant here and it is. I think the best explanation we can give here is that the bishop must live in such a way that he cannot be blackmailed. His lifestyle should be such that an adversary couldn't charge him with being a hypocrite who teaches one way and who's visible lifestyle is just the opposite. This may even involve clearing up any skeletons in the closet. By that I mean the skeletons of past sins that have been confessed, repented of, and absolved through the cross! In short, the bishop or overseer must have the teflon coating of the blood of Jesus applied to His life. His behavior, guided by the Word of God, is to be a model of moral consistency. And if he would be charged with anything it would not stick. Because of the prospective bishop's walk with the Lord, he is safe and secure from (for lack of a better term) blackmail. Because blackmail only succeeds when things are left in secret. Pastors aren't perfect, but they should be free from behaviors that wag fingers. They ought to be “blameless.”