God is consistent. I am not.

2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27, 1 John 2:1–6, Psalm 103:15–22

If I were reading only the Old Testament, at times I’d become depressed. Some of the kings that led God’s people started well, but ended badly. Uzziah was one of them. He was only sixteen when he began to reign, and he lasted fifty-two years on the throne. Today’s OT reading says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like his father Amaziah had done, setting himself to seek God under the instruction of Zechariah, and “as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.” (2 Chronicles 26:3–5)

However, this didn’t last. “When he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.”

God said only the priest were allowed to do that, so they withstood King Uzziah and warned him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.”

Uzziah was angry. Immediately, leprosy broke out on his forehead right there in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense. (2 Chronicles 26:16–19) He never recovered, but died a leper.

After Uzziah, his Son Jotham ruled well, but could not bring the people away from their corrupt practices. Then Ahaz, Jotham’s son took the throne and did not do right in the eyes of the Lord. Again, this is depressing.

God judged him also, this time by giving him into the hand of the king of Syria. Syria “defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.” (2 Chronicles 28:5–6)

The failures of these kings remind me of my failures and inconsistency in loving and obeying God. However, the OT reading is not the end of God’s story. John gives warnings about consistent sin, which is a sign of unbelief, but also about the forgiveness that is mine by faith. Jesus is my advocate . . .

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:1–6)

The first part of this passage makes clear that Christians are not sinless, but we have an Advocate in Jesus Christ. The reminder in these readings is that persistent sin usually identifies those who have no faith. This passage also seems to sum up the lives of those kings. Either they obeyed God in faith, or they obeyed in faith and then fell into disobedience, or they never had faith and never did obey.

Because of my Advocate, when I sin, I am forgiven, even cleansed. Also, because of Jesus obedience is possible. His life in me changes my attitudes and motivations.

These days, I’m thinking about the brevity of life and the importance of obedience. So also was the psalmist who wrote, “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” (Psalm 103:15–19)

What assurance that God’s love persists. His redemption is greater than all my sins and errors. He put me in His kingdom by grace because of Jesus Christ. If eternal life depended on my performance, I could never be secure.

The little things

Those who think, “This is just a child’s pair of mittens. I’ll do a better job knitting my next sweater” or “No one knows me in this crowd, I’ll behave much better in church” have missed a fundamental truth. It is hinted at in the incident where Jesus ministered to His disciples. 

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)

While some congregations take this literally and consider foot-washing an ordinance, it seems that Jesus had more in mind. He demonstrated to them and to us that loving others is about being God’s person in ordinary life, no matter where we are. 

Jesus humbly did a menial usually reserved for servants. Today’s devotional asks if I can use a towel as Jesus did? Do I see and take opportunities in the ordinary things of life to be a blessing to others? It is the daily stuff that reveals what I will be like in other surroundings. I cannot muster up “better” in the big things if I am not doing my best in the smaller ordinary tasks.

In fact, no Christian can do anything, big or small, as it ought to be done apart from the indwelling power of Jesus Christ. He is our source and resource, our very life. The love He showed to His disciples and wants me to show to others comes from the Vine to the branches. Unless I am abiding in Him and totally relying on Him, there are no inner resources for loving service at any time or place.

Jesus said that what He did was an example. I am supposed to care for others as He did. This is not about feet washing but about treating people with loving consideration. Not only that, the devotional says to watch the kind of people God brings into my life. My response to them will reveal the kind of person I am. If I am constantly running into and being annoyed by rude, thoughtless and arrogant people, maybe God is showing me the need for change in my own life. Am I also rude, thoughtless and arrogant? If that is true, I need forgiveness and cleansing. I also need to learn how to respond to those people as Jesus treats me, even using whatever is at hand to be a blessing. Can I do that? Can I be what He asks?

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:10–12)

Faithful in the little things means that I’m not thinking I will speak for God and teach His truth only when I am in front of a Bible study class, but “it doesn’t matter” in other situations. Ignoring smaller opportunities instead of waiting for bigger ones is like “trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches.” Waiting for “more important” things to do could find me woefully short of resources should they come along. Besides, I would look and feel like a hypocrite, a pitiful Sunday-only Christian that is only faithful when it suits me.

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God, You are speaking again about continual obedience. It isn’t enough to have a “ministry” that I do each Sunday. You want me to rely on You and Your strength for every moment of every day. My “class” is bigger than the group that comes into the room each week at church. You give me many opportunities. All the people that I meet in other situations also need to know about You.

Sometimes I must open my mouth and tell them. Sometimes You want me to get a towel and wash their feet. Living for You means paying attention all the time and seeing the opportunities all around me. If I’m not polite to rude drivers on the freeway, how can I be polite to needy people on Sunday? I need to rely on You all the time to do whatever You want me to do — on Sunday mornings, but also every moment of every day.