Smash Every One

"Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam... which he made Israel to sin - that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan" (2 Kings 10:28-29).

One of the things I'm learning... both in life and in leadership... is that it doesn't make sense to hold out on God. But some times we do it anyway, don't we? We give Him access to certain areas in our lives, but for other areas... we're like MC Hammer (remember him?): "Can't touch this!" But we'll never experience all that God has called us to be if we don't submit everything to Him.

In the passage above, Jehu was the newly-crowned king of Israel, and was very zealous for God in wiping out the relatives of wicked king Ahab. Ahab had committed such wickedness in the eyes of God, that God had pronounced judgment against him... that there would be no trace of an ancestry line for him - no chance at leaving a wicked legacy. Jehu carried out God's command for this to a "t", even down to destroying the worship system of the false god Baal that Ahab's wife, Jezebel, had introduced to Israel. Yet, in all his zealousness for God, he (for whatever reason) didn't deal with all the idol worship... he kept up the golden calves in Bethel and Dan... not huge idols on the scale of Baal, but idols are idols... they will eventually turn people away from the true God.

We do the same thing: we get rid of the "big" sins (whatever they may be), but we hold on to other "smaller" sins... but we have to realize that sin is sin - all of it dishonors God. It doesn't matter whether it's lying or lust... premarital sex or pre-mentrual sinfulness (lol!)... pride or porn... gossip or gluttony... all sin dishonors God.

When we don't deal with the sin in our lives, it always broadens out into other areas... always. Sin always brings about death, always cuts something off: we lose money, we lose face, we lose jobs, we lose marriages... sometimes we lose lives, either our own or those close to us. Sin always brings about the death of something. It's not to be tolerated... it's not "just the way I am" (Jesus died to change all that!)... it's not to be given the nod, because it will eventually destroy you.

Smash all your idols... all of them. Don't leave the "smaller ones" around... they come back to bite you... to death.