I need to become more like King Josiah of the Old Testament.
You see, I have occasionally made wrong turns in life that weren’t clearly Kingdom-focused.
I can’t recall any defiant rejections of God’s path in my life. But I can’t say the same about random mixed-motive decisions.
You know what I’m talking about because you’ve likewise made mixed-motive decisions that were intended to benefit yourself and coincidentally benefit the Church.
Here are a few examples of how Christians have fallen short:
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Single Christians sometimes invite opposite sex single Christians to church not just for Kingdom purposes but also in a desire to hook up in a relationship. If the dating possibility evaporates, so do the invitations to church.
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Business owner Christians sometimes talk about faith and promote church attendance in order to build a business relationship, not just a Kingdom relationship.
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Pastors sometimes fall into the trap of stretching out a counseling relationship with an emotionally fragile woman because of a desire to spend time with her when he should be referring her to a professional Christian counselor where she’ll get better help and he’ll avoid a trap that has claimed thousands of church leaders.
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Husbands expect their wives to submit because it’s biblical but really he’s wanting the biblical principle to “bring her into line” instead of his being such a responsible, supportive, cherishing husband that the wife naturally wants to follow his leadership.
Josiah was a man who singly focused on the path of faith.
“He did not turn away from doing what was right.” (2 Kings 22:2)
Satan is constantly inviting us to step off the path of pure-hearted faith.
He dwells on what we’re missing by walking the straight and narrow.
Let’s make sure to focus on not missing out on the unfathomable riches and joy of heaven.
Let’s not try to walk two roads at once.
Let’s never turn away from doing what is right.
As always, I love you
Martin
