03/09/2016 - A CRUCIAL ERROR

• 
• 
• 
• 

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.  2 Chronicles 25.2

An evil lineage passed through the kingdom of Judah, when king Jehoshaphat committed a serious error, marrying his son Jehoram to Athalia, daughter of the wicked Ahab. Jehoram was a wicked man, for, as soon as he got strong, he killed all of his siblings. When he died, it was written that he left and nobody missed him. Ahaziah, his youngest son, took over the kingdom and proved to be evil too. Therefore, he was killed by Jehu, who was sent by God. 

When she saw Ahaziah dead, Athaliah ordered to kill her grandchildren and took over the kingdom. By divine work, Joash was spared and raised by the priest Jehoiada, who, later lifted Joash as king with just seven years of age. At first and while Jehoiada still lived, Joash behaved like a man of God; however, when the priest died, he gave himself to idolatry. That is why he was killed by his servants. Bad lineage!

At this stage of events, Amaziah, son of Joash, took over the kingdom. It was written about him that he did what was right before the Lord´s eyes, however, not with a perfect heart. This is a very important detail that serves us as a lesson. If we do what is righteous before God, without being perfect in the faith in Jesus, then one day, we will be instigated by the evil one to do things that will hinder us. 

Examine yourself and see if there are desires for wrong practices hidden in your heart, although you don’t do them now. Be careful! If you like to think about them and if you are inspired by them, sooner or later, they might lead you to fall in the traps of the enemy. You must be perfect with the Father, strictly refusing what comes from the devil: filthy desires or a desire to prosper at any cost, amongst other actions. 

Every abnormality comes from the devil. The servants of the Most High must promptly refuse these “innocent”, but hellish offers. If you like to watch soap operas just to see what will happen, if you look at the so called models in their sensual pictures, if you don’t see anything wrong in two people from the same sex getting “married”, if you don’t consider as bribery when an authority receives something to approve a project, among other attitudes such as these, then you are in real and eternal danger. 

The imperfect heart of Amaziah allowed the men of Judah, when they defeated the Edomites, to get ten thousand of them alive and take them to the top of the highest summit of the rock. From there, there were thrown into the abyss, and were smashed. An imperfect heart is capable of such attitudes that the servants of the Lord would never have. Hatred enters the place where God should be and it can take the person to do things that not even the lost one would do. 

Examine yourself! If you discover something wrong, enter in a plea with the Lord to have your heart cleansed, you soul sanctified and be prepared for the Christian service wherever He sends you. The final days of Amaziah were also sad and, like his parents, he gave himself to the idolatry of the Edomites, for he got their gods and served them. Mercy! 

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares