Reading in Hosea 4 this morning, verse 7b struck me:

…They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace. (NET)

In context this passage is lamenting how the priests of God in ancient Israel turned away from serving God by their sin and spiritual adultery.  In turn, they brought the people of Israel away from God.

They certainly did have a glorious calling–priests of God!  They alone had the privilege of serving God in the Temple.  And yet they abandoned that privilege in favor of idolatry and worldliness.

So, too, the leaders in the churches of today have a glorious calling.  They are the spiritual leaders of Christ’s Church.  May it never be true of us who serve God that we would turn our glorious calling into a shameful disgrace because of our spiritual adultery and sin!  “Keep us faithful to You, O Lord!”  Don’t dishonor the Lord by your apostasy and love of the world!