Fully Committed

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

FULLY COMMITTED

1 Kings 15:9-15

9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother's name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the LORD the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.

NIV

Finally, a king who did everything right in the eyes of the Lord. Asa was the great-grandson of Solomon. Asa reigned over Judah, but Jeroboam, the man who thought to himself, whose thoughts were self-centered, ruled over Israel. But our story is about how Asa’s heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life. Without repeating all he did, we come right to our story. First, do we do what is right in the eyes of the Lord? Second, are our hearts fully committed to the Lord all our lives? Those two questions require some pondering. First, we know that accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior was the right thing to do in God's eyes. Asa expelled the evil practices from the land, and even deposed his grandmother because of her repulsive Asherah pole. Have we expelled all the evil in our land, or rather, our lives? Have we deposed anything repulsive to us, more importantly, to God? True, we are weak, we fail, but we also repent, seeking forgiveness for our sin. That is also doing right in God’s eyes. We want to do whatever he asks of us, serving his kingdom wherever and however he has determined. We want to be the person God desires us to be, and be right in his eyes. Whether we are is up to him to judge, not us. Second, we want our hearts to be fully committed to him. If our hearts are divided in any way, they could not be fully committed to him. We know that we cannot serve two masters, and that is an absolute. How can we do, even some of the practices of this world, and say our hearts are not divided? Although we live here, we need to work here to buy the things of life: a home, clothes, food, and other necessities; we cannot chase after them. Those things are not the reason we live, but the result of our seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. God provides us with those things that the pagans, the unbelievers, chase after. Our hearts need to be fully committed to the Lord. We are supposed to love him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, not partially, while we endeavor to gain all the things of this world. Asa brought all the silver and gold into the temple. We need to bring the most valuable asset to God into his house,  He has sent the Holy Spirit to his most valuable asset, our hearts, souls, spirits, and minds. Let us be fully committed, doing what is right in our Lord's eyes.