Loosing your life to find it

What is important in your life? What do you hold dear?

This question sounds very simple. Seemingly straightforward. Most of us will say family, work, and maybe peace on earth and goodwill to all men.

But seriously, what is important? Is it good health, business success, or a comfortable life? Happy kids and happy spouse? The list goes on, and each one of us will have something special to us personally.

The next question is: how will you hold on to what is important to you? It is then that we come to the crux of the matter. How far am I prepared to go to keep the status quo?

In 2 Kings chapter 18, King Hezekiah becomes king of Judah. Since King David, there has been an interesting parade of Kings through the Kingdom of Judah. They all had a different approach to serving God. Some were just plain bad and did their own thing by promoting idol worship, and they allowed the evil practices of the surrounding nation. Then there were the good ones. The Bible would say; "they did good in the eyes of the Lord." Those good kings would go around and demolish all the Asherah poles, and they would stop the evil practices of offering children, and the priest of Baal would be removed.

The one thing that the 'good' Kings would neglect to do was remove the high places. Time and again, as you read through the books 1 &2 Kings, it was mentioned that the Kings did what was pleasing to the Lord but did not remove the high places. It made me think that maybe they have become so used to having those high places everywhere that most people simply accepted it as normal.

The unfortunate truth of the situation is that it also meant that their worship was divided. The people of Judah most probably did most things right. They would meet their obligation towards feast days and going to the temple when it is important. But what about the in-between times? Were the high places the easy way out? If I am in a pinch and I have to appease God, but I don't feel like trekking to the temple, then a high place can be handy if it is nearby. I am only speculating about the use of high places.

My point is that the Lord gave specific instructions about worship to Him only and where that worship should occur. Whatever the reason was that the people of Judah continued to hold on to their high places, it did mean that their loyalty was divided. They did not give 100% to God, which they owed him.

So came King Hezekiah in 2 King 18: 4. He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. The Bible says about King Hezekiah: "He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those before him, for he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered."

Hezekiah was prepared to do what none of his predecessors, since King David, were prepared to do. It was a bold thing to do. I can only wonder about the anger and opposition he faced when he decided to remove all those idols and high places. The people were probably very sceptical about this controversial decision. As we continue to read 2 Kings, we can see that God rewarded King Hezekiah's faithfulness by rescuing them from the hands of the Assyrians.

This is a great story in the Old Testament, but how is it relevant in this modern world? The fact is that we all have high places in our lives. Anything that we place above God is an idol. Some of our "high places" might not even seem like a bad thing. Remember my question at the very beginning? What is important for you? What will you sacrifice to continue holding on to that which you cherish? If the Lord ask you today to give it up as He did for the rich young man, what will your response be? The rich young man felt that the cost of obeying Jesus was too high.

In Matthew 10:38, Jesus said: "If you cling to your life, you will lose it." Was Jesus talking about life as in living and dying, or was He talking about those things we cling to for dear life, i.e. work, wealth, possessions and so on? We cling to these things to the extent that we are prepared to do anything to hold on to them. In the second part of this verse, Jesus says, "If you give up your life for me, then you will find it."

In the world's economy, that does not make sense. But in God's economy, that is how it works. Today, as you read this article, examine your heart and ask the Holy Spirit what the high places in your life are. Don't allow anything in your life to be more important than obeying your Heavenly Father. Nothing that you can ever give up for Him is a loss. He will give you so much more than you can ever imagine. But more importantly, your relationship with Him will grow stronger than it has ever been.

We live in the last days. Trust the Lord that when He asks you to give up something, your life will be better without it than with it.

SELAH