Wednesday – History

Reading – 2 Chronicles 22-24

“And all the people went over to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They demolished the altars and smashed the idols, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭23‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jehoiada was a wise man.

He was politically savvy too.

He made all the arrangements for 7-year-old Joash to become king in place of Athaliah, who had seized power improperly.

Jehoiada had obviously been making alliances well in advance.

And when he got Joash onto the throne, one of the first things he did was to get rid of one of Israel’s biggest distractions, the temple of Baal.

You could say that it was a terribly violent act, but sometimes standing for the truth requires violence.

I am not calling for the same kind of violence today.

I am calling for a different kind of violence.

If there is something in our lives that is seriously distracting you or I from following Jesus wholeheartedly, we would be wise to remove it.

Such a removal may even seem violent in the midst of it.

But if something is keeping us from God, it would be unwise to keep it around.

I don’t know what that looks like for you.

It could be removing access to a sinful activity from your life. It could be forming a new habit of setting aside an unproductive habit to make time for others and for God.

But if you have something that you know is in the way of your relationship with God, remove it. You won’t be sorry.

What distraction have you had to remove from your life?
What is there that still needs to be removed?