Good Enough?

In this way, Jehu destroyed every trace of Baal worship from Israel. He did not, however, destroy the gold calves at Bethel and Dan, with which Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to sin. Nonetheless the LORD said to Jehu, “You have done well in following my instructions to destroy the family of Ahab. Therefore, your descendants will be kings of Israel down to the fourth generation.” But Jehu did not obey the Law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit. [2 Kings 10.28-31]

"Good enough" is neither good nor enough. Obeying God "mostly" is commendable, but that's about it. Jehu's story is sad - he obeyed God, but just not with his whole heart.

The lesson here for us should be a scary one. As Jehu's heart was not fully devoted, so our hearts are at risk of not being fully devoted. The thing is, our hearts are deceptive and desperately wicked. How can we be fully devoted to God?

Our only hope of pleasing God is by faith. It is by faith that we believe in Jesus Who delivered us from the systematic practices of sacrifices and offerings. Jesus "paid it all" on our behalf. However, there still remains our response of faith - without which we are just as displeasing to God as the worst of the Bible characters we read about in the Old Testament.

Father I want to believe everything Jesus laid out for me to believe. Forgive me for displeasing You with faithless efforts - no matter how good they seem...