Half-Way Obedience {2 Kings 8:16 - 10:36}
12:30 AMTuesday, March 27, 2018
Imagine
only washing half of your kitchen floor.
Or only cooking dinner half-way.
Or applying only half of your make-up.
That’s what we see here in 2 Kings 8:16 – 10:36.
It’s
remarkable to me that Jehu gets anointed at all. God knows Jehu’s natural inclination. This was a time when people did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord. But isn’t that
what is occurring in our lifetime?
Abortion. Sexual sin. Corruption in the government and in the
business world.
I
have had to ask myself lately what am I doing wrong? I have been battling a few little battles and
I just can’t seem to see the end. And
the more I pray, the more I’ve come to realize that it’s truly a heart
condition. I am in a place of waiting
and it’s painful to wait so long. I seem
to be desperate for the Lord’s answer – an ache in my soul, just waiting to be
fulfilled.
As
I prepared this post, I could recognize myself – totally devoted – no. No, I still have my tendencies to not destroy
everything that keeps me separated from God.
It was only the forbidden fruit that began the sin of the world. But it spread to lying and selfishness and disobedience
and murder.
Sin
is not just something that affects just one person at a time. The sins of one
person can influence other people.
Jeroboam’s sin caused the northern kingdom to continue to sin against
God and it grew until Ahab introduced Baal worship to the nation. Our sins can influence the people around
us.
Sin
isn’t just like some disease that we have to rid ourselves of it; it is
something that is inherent to our nature.
We are not sinners because we sin.
We sin because we are sinners. We
are sinners first and that can be a bitter pill for some of us to swallow. We don’t even mean to sin, but we do. It’s like second nature.
When God flooded the earth, he knew that that was not the solution to sin. He wanted to show us that our solution would not work. The same is here with Jehu. We might think that wiping out the source of Baal worship would solve all the problems, but it doesn’t. Just read the headlines these days. ISIS. Police/Citizen shootings. School shootings. Our hearts may want retribution, but that is not the answer. None of these solve the problem of sin. The solution to sin requires an even more drastic measure than killing everybody. The solution requires killing God.
Jesus
came to save us from ourselves! He came
to suffer and die on the cross for our sins, even though He was the only person
to ever be sinless. He was fully man and
fully God, and the only one able to take away our sins. His sacrifice on the cross enables us to nail
our sins to that very same cross once and for all. He took our shame. He took our pain. He separated Himself from the Father so that
He would become sin, the sin of us all.
The Lord poured out His complete wrath of Jesus. The innocent was broken. His blood flowed on the ground. His death caused the earth to quake and the
skies to break. He endured death in
order to break death. Death could not
keep its hold on Jesus and He returned just 3 days later. Jesus had broken sin and death, and the
problem of sin now had a solution.
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