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I have two thoughts on behavioral checklists.

One is about how central they were to the Wesleyan revival and the Holy Club at Oxford. The list was long and the accountability strong and it resulted in Methodism.

The other was the old Baptist Sunday School 9-point record system on our offering envelopes:

1. Did you read your Bible daily?
2. Did you pray?
3. Did you give?
4. Did you share your faith.

Etc ….

It did encourage discipleship.

So, last night as I was reading this morning’s scriptures, I thought, “Wow, we could make a checklist out of this!”

Look at it this way:

Exodus 23:1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness. You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit.

“When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back.

“When you see the donkey of one who hates you struggling under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free.

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty. You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds officials and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

“You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Let me see what I can do with this and see how we are doing as individuals and a society.

• Did you honor truth in all of your business, political, and relationship dealing?

“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness. You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit.

• Did you treat all of your neighbors, both friends and foes, fairly, compassionately, and truthfully/honestly?

“When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back.

• Were you compassionate with animals?

“When you see the donkey of one who hates you struggling under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free.

• Did you treat everyone equally and allow everyone to be accountable for their actions, honoring evidence and fairness without regard to status?

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty.”

• Did you avoid being corrupted by corruption in all of its forms?

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds officials and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.”

• Did you respect the human rights of aliens and foreigners?

“You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

• Having answered these personally, have you held your government and leaders accountable for the same standards?