The Great Divide
"[Amaziah] did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart."
-2 Chronicles 25:2
Throughout Israel's biblical history, they had a slew of bad leaders. Evil, Godless leadership resulted in judgment and discipline from the Lord to get them back on track but it never ceased to occur that after hard times brought the necessary repentance, shortly after another bad leader would take power and Israel would be headed right back to the 'repentance corner' all over again.
They had leaders like Amaziah often - a leader with a divided heart.
You would think with their own civil war (Judah vs. Israel; a 'North vs. South' situation like our American Civil War), countless enemies attacking them, and rampant sin, that Godless leaders would be the culprit - but that wasn't always the case. In many cases, you had Amaziahs - leaders who led with divided hearts.
At first glance, the reader is left to do a double-take at 2 Chronicles 25:2 - 'Wait, hold on. King Amaziah did what was right as far as God was concerned but he did those 'right' things without a loyal heart? How does that work?' We tend to look at people in the Bible, and honestly Israel as a whole, and think that they were some childish, 'messed up,' albeit ignorant fools. But lets pump the breaks on those indictments because if we take a step back from the narrative and look at our own lives as Christians, we do the exact things Israel and their bad leaders did quite often.
How so? We set out to serve our Lord Jesus everyday, but because of our sinful flesh, we battle in an 'old self vs. new self' battle constantly. Sometimes our new mind/Spirit win, but other times our old sinful flesh wins. It's the battle described in all of its confusing glory as only Paul could describe it in Romans 7. We do what is right in the sight of the Lord but not always with a loyal heart. We tend to do 'good deeds' or 'Christian things', which in and of themselves are good, Godly things, but we sometimes do them with the wrong motives - selfishness, what can I get out of this deed, I want to feel good, etc., rather than for the glory of God. The list can go on.....
We have the power through the Holy Spirit, as believers, to both "do what is right in the sight of the Lord" AND do those things with a loyal heart. We should actually see more and more of this in our lives as we grow into more mature Christians - it's part of the process known as sanctification - the process of the Spirit making us more like Jesus on this side of the Kingdom.
Reader, my brother/sister in Christ, let's be sure we aren't pulling an "Amaziah," today, or any day. Let's do what is right in God's eyes according to His Word but also with an UNdivided heart. Jesus over everything. God first. Me and this world last.
-2 Chronicles 25:2
Throughout Israel's biblical history, they had a slew of bad leaders. Evil, Godless leadership resulted in judgment and discipline from the Lord to get them back on track but it never ceased to occur that after hard times brought the necessary repentance, shortly after another bad leader would take power and Israel would be headed right back to the 'repentance corner' all over again.
They had leaders like Amaziah often - a leader with a divided heart.
You would think with their own civil war (Judah vs. Israel; a 'North vs. South' situation like our American Civil War), countless enemies attacking them, and rampant sin, that Godless leaders would be the culprit - but that wasn't always the case. In many cases, you had Amaziahs - leaders who led with divided hearts.
At first glance, the reader is left to do a double-take at 2 Chronicles 25:2 - 'Wait, hold on. King Amaziah did what was right as far as God was concerned but he did those 'right' things without a loyal heart? How does that work?' We tend to look at people in the Bible, and honestly Israel as a whole, and think that they were some childish, 'messed up,' albeit ignorant fools. But lets pump the breaks on those indictments because if we take a step back from the narrative and look at our own lives as Christians, we do the exact things Israel and their bad leaders did quite often.
How so? We set out to serve our Lord Jesus everyday, but because of our sinful flesh, we battle in an 'old self vs. new self' battle constantly. Sometimes our new mind/Spirit win, but other times our old sinful flesh wins. It's the battle described in all of its confusing glory as only Paul could describe it in Romans 7. We do what is right in the sight of the Lord but not always with a loyal heart. We tend to do 'good deeds' or 'Christian things', which in and of themselves are good, Godly things, but we sometimes do them with the wrong motives - selfishness, what can I get out of this deed, I want to feel good, etc., rather than for the glory of God. The list can go on.....
We have the power through the Holy Spirit, as believers, to both "do what is right in the sight of the Lord" AND do those things with a loyal heart. We should actually see more and more of this in our lives as we grow into more mature Christians - it's part of the process known as sanctification - the process of the Spirit making us more like Jesus on this side of the Kingdom.
Reader, my brother/sister in Christ, let's be sure we aren't pulling an "Amaziah," today, or any day. Let's do what is right in God's eyes according to His Word but also with an UNdivided heart. Jesus over everything. God first. Me and this world last.
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