Not Wholeheartedly

2 Chronicles 25: 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

People are a mixed bag, some good and some not so good. The ration might be different in different people, some 60/40 and some 99/1, but if we are honest, we are all a mix. One of the hopes of the Gospel is that as we grow in Christ the ration shifts as we put off the old, are made new, and put on the new. But we are all still in the process.

I love the Scriptures because of their honest portrayal of this mix. The Scriptures tell of the colossal failures of the heroes of our faith. There isn’t a whitewashed picture in the book.

That is because the Book isn’t about us, it is about the faithfulness of our God to work His will in His world. He can even use us, fallen as we are, broken and limping. He takes anyone willing to yield and uses them for His glory.

We have a summary statement in our text of the life of one of the kings of Judah. He was a mixed bag if ever there was a mixed bag. But how did he get that way?

The clue is in the text: he did what was right, but not wholeheartedly. And the chapter outlines what happens when we are not wholehearted in our devotion to the LORD. We might get some things right, but then it will fall apart.

And this chapter contains some very troubling accounts. It starts with the murder of the people who murdered his father. Yikes! I would have though exile to Egypt or Switzerland might have been appropriate. We don’t read about a trial, but maybe there was one.

But then he obeys a portion of the Law about not killing the kids for the sins of the parents.  Good for him. But then he heads off into battle after making an alliance with Israel, the northern rebellious cousins and then breaking it.

And after he wins the battle, he takes his captives and has then thrown off the top of a cliff to their death. Wow, that’s cruel. Ten thousand men! But what is the character of the man who ordered their deaths?

We then read about this king bringing back the gods of the defeated people and beginning to worship them rather than the LORD. Maybe he is the one who should have been thrown off the cliff.

But this tells the story of humanity. We aren’t very good at wholehearted devotion. We tend to try to “do enough” to get by too many times in too many areas. And the results reflect that.

We could be this king. This could be a story of our lives, details a bit different, but the results too often the same. But then God….

You see the story doesn’t end with Amaziah, this king. It continues to the God-Man Jesus. He fully obeyed with wholehearted devotion, even to the point of death. And three days later His perfect life was vindicated in his return to life, a life that continues to this day.

And as a result of the wholehearted devotion, we too have the opportunity to life wholehearted lives. We can have the presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to live lives of holiness and service. He stays with us. He continues to call us to move in closer.

And with each step we take, off goes more of the old and on comes more of the new. We are transformed. Our new hearts become more and more a reality. We live more in step with Him and His glory shines through us fulfilling His ultimate plan.