June 26th blog post

Wholehearted - What Lies Beyond the Spiritual To Do List


I love lists!  Whenever I have a task or things to accomplish I love to make a list.  It helps keeps me organized, on task, and moving forward.  As I finish things on my list I check them off as done which helps me to have a quick visual of my successful accomplishments.  Did I mention I love lists?

I think Jehu, the newly anointed King of Israel, may have liked lists as well.  We read in 2 Kings how he was a man with a hefty list of things to accomplish in order to rid the land of Ahab, his descendants, his followers, and to remove all of the Baal worship.  With a declared passion of obedience to the Lord he set out to complete his list.  He was successful and accomplished everything on his list.  Ahab dead: Check!  Ahab's descendants and followers dead? Check!  Baal worship abolished in the kingdom? Check!  I imagine that Jehu sat back and felt good that he had done what the Lord told him to do with great success and was satisfied. 

But this is where the problem came in and often does.  What happens after the to do list has been checked off?  2 Kings 10:31 tells us that after the to do list "Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all (not part but it says all) his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam..."  Jehu got comfortable in where his relationship with the Lord was.  His check list for the Lord was done.  He was so successful and had accomplished so much that it seemed to blind his heart from further opportunities to grow in the LORD and to serve the LORD.

I am no different than Jehu at times.  I have my spiritual to do lists; read my bible each day, pray each day, obey the 10 commandments (at least the ones I can remember off the top of my head), be in a small group, go to church; and do my best to live my life as a light of Christ.  Check, check, check, check, check and check!!!  But God is bigger than a to do list.  My relationship with him can not be confined to accomplishments checked off as done.  God desires my whole heart, not a divided one or distracted one, he wants it all.  God wants the best of me not my left over time and attention.  God wants to be first, middle and last in my thoughts, words and actions, in my life.  He wants all of me not just some and done.

When Jehu had finished his to do list for the day that was enough for him.  He didn't return to the Lord and ask to be shown, given wisdom, in how to rule his kingdom.  He didn't ask if there was anything within him that God wanted/needed him to remove.  He didn't ask how he could serve the Lord.  He seemed to be satisfied with where he was and thought it was enough.  He had given the Lord part of his heart and it caused him fall into a false security that it was enough.

I am guilty of having this same attitude all to often.  I read my daily bible and I pray and I feel good about my relationship with the LORD.  But when I wake up each day is my heart and mind set on the Lord and his will, his tasks for me or on my planned out day ahead?  Do I live eager to serve the Lord with my life the way he will call me to serve or do I start out with my own agenda?  Am I satisfied with the place my relationship with the Lord is at or do I desire to take it deeper and for it grow more that day?  Do I take the time to really listen to what the Lord is saying, trying to show me, to see him revealed in my day or do I think I already know, I've already heard or already have seen?  Am I truly all in with all my heart every day?  Do I see my relationship with the LORD as a chore, as time consuming, or interfering with my day at all?  Even just a little bit?  Honest questions that can be hard to answer.  Honest questions with answers that can often times be hard to swallow.

I am a work in progress. I don't want to be a half-hearted to do list child of God.  I want the LORD to grow me, teach me, guide me, reveal to me, live in me wholeheartedly all day and every day of my life.  I want a relationship with the LORD that is passionate, important, and constantly growing.  I know that the first step to this is making sure that I start with prayer.  Prayer for God to give me an undivided heart.  Prayer for God to reveal in me that which hinders his spirit from flowing and what keeps me from growing.  Prayer for constant wisdom and passion for the LORD and his word.  Prayer for guidance and for the Holy Spirit to work in me and through me.  Prayer that I never get comfortable with where I am.  Then I need to remember to never stop praying these things.  They are not a to do prayer list that I check off but a constant daily part of my life.

I want to be an all-in, wholehearted child of God.  "LORD let today be the start of my wholehearted living...."