The Bible describes a war that goes on within our hearts, a war vividly described by Paul in Romans 7:7-24 between the ‘old nature’ (dominated by sinful desires which are at odds with God’s ways) and the ‘new nature’ (which delights in God’s ways.) The only way, Paul says, to deal with the old nature is the way of crucifixion: ‘those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’ (Gal 5:24) We can’t afford to show mercy to this old way of being, because it chokes faith and leaves us battered and bruised by those waves of doubt.
In the book of Kings, we read a sorry cycle of disobedience and half-hearted worship. 2 Kings 16:31 says ‘even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols.’ Such double-minded lives, as we saw yesterday, cannot lead to victory in God. We can’t afford to worship at any other altar, so we have to deal ruthlessly with any idol in our lives (the idol of prosperity or anxiety or pride, jealousy or fear, for example.) If we don’t, we become like the animal Pushmipullyu in ‘Doctor Dolittle’, an animal with two heads facing in opposite directions.
Not only does double-mindedness succeed in destroying us, it will lead others astray (2 Kings 16:41 concludes ‘To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.‘)
For healthy living in our own lives and the lives of those to come, we must be people of integrity, wholeheartedly serving the Lord as Caleb and Joshua did. (Num 14:24)