My thoughts on faith, family, friends, and fiction! 

“During his reign, however, he failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people never fully committed themselves to follow the God of their ancestors.” (2 Chronicles 20:33 NLT, emphasis mine)

Photo from Tiny Toons Wiki

During my morning Bible study, this verse jumped out at me.  Actually, those words jumped out at me.  Fully Committed.

What are you fully committed to?  My marriage and my family easily come to mind.  I’m on this diet, and I’m really committed to making changes in my eating and exercise habits. And, of course, I’m committed to living my life for God.

But the author didn’t just say committed, he added fully.  Wholly and completely. Not an ounce of uncommittment in the mix.  I definitely have to take the diet off the list.  Sometimes the cupcake looks just too tempting.  But, if I balance the cheat with a little extra exercise…

Wait, sometimes I’m a little slack in discipline.  Sometimes I do the “Yeah, yeah, okay,” instead of sticking to my guns.  But isn’t that just picking your battles wisely?

And there are definitely some “cupcakes” in my walk with God.

So the next question is, what does fully committed look like?

Looking a little deeper at the verse, you’ll see Jehoshaphat didn’t remove all the pagan shrines.  That meant there was something still in their lives, in their world, pulling them away from being fully committed.  These aren’t little pebbles in the road that make you stumble, these are Asherah poles sticking high above the ground.  Your eyes are drawn to them, you stop, you turn and take a look.  Even when you aren’t right in front of them, you know they are there.  You can see them in the distance, and they are constantly calling to you…and calling you away from God.

This isn’t about perfection, this isn’t about striving for perfection.  Being fully committed (to me) means reaching for God.  Both arms outstretched, yearning for Him (and nothing else) in every area of our lives.  Being satisfied with Him, and not relying on anything else to fill us up.

I know I’m going to be hunting the Asherah poles in my heart. I’ve erected a few over the years, and it’s time to bring them down.