Today’s Reading, 2 Kings 23-25
Focal Scripture: 2 Kings 23:25 “Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.”
When our time is up how will people speak of you after you are gone. Because if we are honest stories will be told about how we live our lives and how we lived for God. I once had the opportunity to meet a pretty famous person and have a long discussion with them. In that meeting they made a profound statement that changed how I view our legacy. They stated “When I die they aren’t going to put my wins and losses on my tombstone. I will be remembered for the type of man I was to my family and others.”
In today’s reading Josiah is remembered because of his heart for the Lord. No king after him or before him turned to the Lord with all that they had like him. Every part of his being was committed to the passionate pursuit of the Lord and he became the standard. He was even more committed than King David.
Think about your life with me at this moment. How would those around you describe you? Would they say that you are gentle and loving? Would they say that you were a person of high character? Then let’s take it home and make it personal. How would our family describe us to others? Would we be the same person at home and away? Or would our family get one version and everyone else the version we want them to see?
Then how would strangers describe us? Would our reputation be so strong for the Lord they could honestly say we pursue him above everything else. Would they say we speak truth in love? Or would we have a reputation of being mean and rude. No matter what, we give a testimony of our lives and what we believe to others. We will either be known as a person who is passionate about God and tries to live for him in every aspect of our lives or we will be known as a fake.
The challenge for us is to be all in like Josiah. To leave no doubt about our commitment and our devotion to God. However, our devotion must match with biblical expectation. We are not given the right to treat others poorly in our religious zeal. I have witnessed others speak in ways that ruin any chance of them sharing Jesus. They were more passionate about being right than being conformed to Gods standard. Our calling is to be like Josiah and change our lives to match the biblical standard.
Live differently because our reputation will be discussed after we are gone.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading 1 Chronicles 1-2
