A Gentle Whisper -- Listening for the Voice of God Johnny Almond 7 years agoJanuary 22, 2018

Wholeheartedness

Jehu paid no attention to walking in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart.

2 Kings 10:31 THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE

A graph of your spiritual course would show a recurring pattern of three steps forward, two steps backward, three steps forward. Sometimes you are half-hearted in your commitment to Me; at other times your heart is undivided in devotion. The anonymous poet could have been describing your own fickleness: “Coward and wayward and weak, I change with the changing sky; today so eager and brave, tomorrow not caring to try.”

You mirror Jehu. You go from being careful to being careless. You are often more concerned with externalities than what matters most. You are sometimes beside yourself about how you look to others, worrying more about your reputation than your character. Decrying others’ shortcomings, you neglect to wage holy war against your own sins. In the process, you miss the victory celebration.

Jehu-like, you are an iconoclast and idolater simultaneously. You get all fired up about straightening other people out, then worship the golden calves of convenience yourself. You are good at leading crusades to recover holy land from people you consider pagans, yet you yourself fail to live in the holy land of the broken heart.

You make a big deal about devoting yourself to heaven’s service—then turn around and disobey Me! Not fully committed to your King, you refuse to give up honoring false gods of your heart. Conducting inquisitions to root out heresy and heretics, you yourself miss the Truth right under your eyes in My Word and so miss the personal joy of a transformed life.

Let Me remind you that your relationship to Me is more important than anything in the world.

Let Me encourage you to spend more time scouring greed and self-indulgence from inside the cup of your life, and less time trying to impress others with gleaming superficialities.

Do more than follow the letter of My law—be My servant.

Do not be content with busy work—passionately serve Me.

I love you with all My heart. Is that the way you will love Me?

Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church

Author, Gentle Whispers from Eternity

Johnny

Johnny R. Almond earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and a Diploma in Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge. After pastoring churches for a decade, he served the Air Force as a military chaplain in worldwide assignments. After retiring from the military in 2000, he began serving as pastor in Virginia. He currently serves as pastor of Hull's Memorial Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He and his wife, Beverly, have four sons, three grandsons, and three granddaughters.