A Sad Story

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. 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 23.16-17]

To be God's people is break all ties with any other god.

What does that mean? It probably means a whole lot more than we think it does today.

According to the passage above, "breaking all ties with other gods" definitely meant the destruction of those gods (idols) and everything and everyone related to them.

What would that look like today?

Frankly, if we today were to break all ties with other gods, it would involve a lot of 'uncomfortable' situations at very least.

What are the 'other gods' of today? 

The number one god of today is "self." We have made "self' a god worthy of every indulgence it can imagine. We have made "self" the most important factor in any decision. "Self" prioritizes everything with its own interests ahead of everything and everyone else. "Self" is concerned only with its own gratification. "Self" refuses to wait for anything - whether physical, mental, emotional, sexual, whatever - "self" wants what it wants now AND without guilt or condemnation. So, "self" makes its own rules and becomes a god unto itself. 

"Self" is the driving force behind all other gods people take unto themselves. It supports the gods of pleasure, sex, money, and greed.

How harshly should we deal with "self"?  "Self" must die and EVERYTHING related to self-worship must be destroyed.

It cannot be underestimated that Joash's failure to remove all the pagan shrines eventually led to his murder of Jehoida's son:

Yet even so, he [Joash] did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. [2 Kings 12.3]

2 Chronicles 24.17-24 describes Joash's ultimate failure after the death of Jehoida and Joash's murder of Zechariah, Jehoida's son. It is a sad story. It is a very sad story.

Our story will be sad too if we fail to thoroughly and completely annihilate "self" in our devotion to God Almighty. Perhaps some or all of the sadness we experience today is directly resultant to our reluctance (like Joash) to give up all in order to worship and serve only the LORD Almighty God.

It occurs to me that Jehoida evidently had a preserving effect upon Joash. It is my opinion that Jehoida's prayers kept that "reluctance" in the one area (2 Kings 12.3 above) in Joash's life in check. After Jehoida's prayers ceased for Joash, the previously hidden ugly truth about Joash's divided loyalty emerged. 

Is there someone in my life praying for me whose prayers are the only thing between me and destruction for my reluctance to "give all" to God?

The sad story of Joash should spark a fear of God in each and every one of us. Although we might think we have a reserved idol under control and that our lives are alright before God, the death of one praying for us could reveal the truth otherwise.

Father, I want to surrender all to You. Help me. I want to release any idol I have reserved for myself. I want to die to myself and live 100% for You.