Wholeheartedly

2 Chronicles 24

(vs 2) Joash [king of Judah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest.

(vs 17-18) After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

For the first years of Joash's life, he followed God wholeheartedly. But it says that when Jehoiadah the priest dies, Joash turns his life around. It makes you wonder why this is. It seems that Joash may have shared in Jehoiada's faith but didn't exactly take it for himself. Like he did it all right, got ticks in all the boxes but his faith may not have totally been his own but Jehoiada's as well. It's a bit confusing.

Think of it this way. I love going to the Indy. I go every year with my Dad. I can make myself look the part, buy all the right stuff. But does it really mean my heart is in it? If Daddy stopped going, would I continue of just stop as well? I may have all the merch, the tickets but what about the passion? It's kind of like that. Joash has done all the right stuff, but when Jehoiada 'leaves' he doesn't continue becuase his heart isn't in it.

The question for us is, are we following God wholeheartedly or basing it off someone else? I was talking to my mum once about when she got married. She said that when she got married, she was just a baby Christian, a new one. As for Daddy, he was a youth leader. She looked to him and saw him as really spiritual. But she learned that Daddy's not perfect and he doesn't know everything. No one can be absolutely right in their faith. She had to quickly make sure that her faith was hers and strong because of her and God, not because of Daddy's.

Now, people are great for support. Friends, mentors, families. They all help us grow, but they can't stand up for us in every situation. We need to strengthen our faith with God's help. God gives us trials to do just that. Trials help us make sure that our faith is genuine.

A prayer: God, I pray that you'll help us to stengthen our faith so that even when Christian supports leave, we'll still have that solid faith. Thank you that you'll never leave.

God bless and keep growing