DAY 159

EARNEST, but for WHAT?

2 Chronicles 30 & 31 and John 18:1-18

Hezekiah celebrating the Passover and organizing the priests…and Jesus’ arrest and denial by Simon Peter…we have read both before. When a person undertakes a project such as “reading the Bible in One Year” it is easy to feel “under the gun” to the point where when you come across something you have already read that you then skip over it. Part of the point in reading the Bible is to read it and to learn the story, but part of it is to read it over and over, letting the story sink in, and letting parts you had not noticed before come to your attention.

What comes to your attention today? Today’s blog is more about what I noticed.

Their determination to hold it, even if it means delaying for a month…their pleading with all the people of the country to “return to the Lord”…they had not properly cleansed themselves…and still went forward. It wasn’t all “per the book,” but they certainly wanted to be with God at the celebration of the Passover…there seems to be earnestness in their hearts.

In the New Testament I notice there is no “kiss” of betrayal, and yet there is Jesus saying “I am he” to the point where they fall back. There is the sword, and the high priests – the trial and Peter…the sense I have from reading this again is that there is a determination and rather than a noble earnestness in their hearts, there is something far more evil. Call it fear, call it power, call it “out of control righteousness, or call it merely the desire to remain in power…whatever their motivation, it will result in evil.

All of these musings brings me back to “the heart” – how what we desire, or what we fear…clearly motivates and moves us to action. I wonder how many times a day I walk around being led by wrong motives in my heart as compared to how many times a day I walk around highly motivated the way the Old Testament folks were today. Today I am reminded to be mindful of just what I am “earnest about;” what it is that has my focus.