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Checks and Balances
Esther 3:11
"And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee."
God built this world with the intent of having checks and balances to keep us honest. In the political realm there are many checks and balances to keep every branch of government honest. For instance, you have the judicial branch that keeps the executive branch honest. You have the executive branch to keep the legislative branch honest. However, the legislative branch will keep the judicial branch honest. Each is there for the purpose of checks and balances.
In the story above, King Ahasuerus made a great mistake as a leader. His mistake was that he gave Haman a blank sheet of trust to write a law without anyone checking that law. Because Haman hated Mordecai and the Jews, he wrote a law that would have annihilated the Jews had God not used Esther to step in. This blank sheet of trust was unwise on the behalf of the king.
Nobody should ever be given a blank sheet of trust, because power can corrupt the best of people. When someone knows that they are never going to be checked, then they will face greater temptation to do wrong like they would not have faced if they had checks and balances. Checks and balances are set up to keep people honest. In every area of life there should be checks and balances.
In your marriage, you should have checks and balances. In other words, you should always be open with your spouse with everything you do. You should never keep secrets in your marriage. Whenever a spouse is not allowed to check up on the other in any area, then it will be in that area where they can mess up. For instance, I have given my wife the opportunity to surprise me on any trip that I take. If she wanted to come and surprise me on a trip, that would be completely fine. The reason I do this is to keep myself honest. Because you and your spouse are human, you should always have checks and balances for each other.
In the church, there needs to be checks and balances. For instance, I believe the Scriptures give the pastor the leadership role of the church. However, that leadership role doesn't give him the authority to spend money out of the budget that the church votes upon. Whenever the pastor gives out the monthly financial report, he is fulfilling the role of his checks and balances.
Likewise, the pastor is the shepherd of the church. That means that nobody is to tell the pastor what to preach. He is to get the message that God wants His people to hear. However, you should never take everything that a preacher says as fact. The checks and balances are the Scriptures. Everything a preacher preaches should be verified by the Scriptures. If you don't verify everything a preacher preaches by the Scriptures, then you can find yourself following a preacher into error.
These are just three instances that I have used for illustrations, but the important thing you should learn is that in every area of life there must be checks and balances. Never give anyone a blank sheet of trust. If you give them a blank sheet of trust you open them up to temptation or compromise. Always have checks and balances for every area of life.