2 Kings 14

The next king on the roster is Amaziah who rules for 29 years.  “He lived the way God wanted and did the right thing”.  I long to hear those words about my life someday.  But in the middle of verse three – here is that word – BUT.  Amaziah lived the way God wanted  BUT “he didn’t come up to the standards of his ancestor David”.  He was good enough to get God’s blessing but not good enough to really achieve all God intended.  He fell short.  Why?  Scripture says he “lived pretty much as his father Joash had”  He allowed “the local sex and religion shrines to stay in business”.  He just didn’t go all the way to the life that God desired.  He fell a bit short.  When I look in the mirror I need to ask that same question. Am I going all the way?  Will I finish strong?  There is another truth that comes in verse six which is very important to hear.  “We each pay personally for our sins”.  There is a price to pay for sin.  God because of his just and holy character cannot just turn His head and ignore it.  There will be a cost for our choice to ignore God’s standard.  In Amaziah’s case, he we close but didn’t get there.  He failed to complete the loop and be totally in tune with God’s desires.  As such, he had a good run as king but missed the complete and unbelievable blessing God wanted to pour out.  I pray that we won’t fall into that same state of affairs.  I pray we will be totally sold out to living with God and be obedient to the very end.  We need to finish strong.  We need to be men who achieve all God has in store.  Let’s do it!