Read for This Week's Study:
1 Sam. 26:5–11, 2 Samuel 11, Esther 8:17, Psalm 51, Isa. 56:3–7, Eph. 2:19.
Memory Text:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NIV).
Imagine that you are buying a train ticket. You stand in line for a long time and worry about missing your train. Finally you pay, receive your ticket, and run to the train. On the way you count your change and discover that you have been given far too much. What do you do? Stand in line again to return the money and perhaps miss your train or simply consider this your lucky day and move on?
What you do in this situation will depend on your understanding of right and wrong. Ethics is the way that we apply this understanding in our everyday life. Nowadays, the most popular type of ethics is situation ethics, which suggests that there are no moral absolutes. It often means doing whatever is most beneficial for oneself in a particular situation.
This week we’ll see a powerful contrast of ethics, between those of King David and of the soldier Uriah. However horrible David’s actions are, they appear even worse contrasted with those of Uriah. Though we aren’t told much about Uriah, what we discover of him and his unfortunate fate can teach us what it means to live out one’s faith as opposed to just talking about it.