the BIG “R’s”..... hmmmm ..... What is going on in us ?

“When Asa heard this message from Azariah the prophet, he took courage and removed all the detestable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, which stood in front of the entry room of the Lord’s Temple.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭15:8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As I read this passage of scripture, and specifically this verse the words just about jumped off the page for me...   “And Asa repaired the altar of the Lord”

The thought immediately came to my mind that we need to repair some altars of the Lord in our lives also.

When reading the whole chapter and getting context we also see other actions by Asa... not only did he repair the Lords Altar, but he also removed detestable idols..he took courage ....

I don’t know about you, but that speaks deeply to me today... maybe its the bit about taking courage, or maybe its the bit about getting the Altar of the Lord back in its rightful place in our lives, or maybe its the bit about removing the detestable idols...not 100% sure, maybe its all of it....   what stands out for me are the “R” words...

    Remove & Repair....   =   Repent & Revive....

                       (also some rebelling against the world and its ways)

It occurs to me that in this modern world, 2020... we could also do with some removing and repairing.... some  repenting and reviving... and maybe some rebelling against the ways of this world and its compromise and watering down of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, some of which has creeped into our churches.

Insidious deception that has blind sided so many.

So....what else occurred to me, was do we really know in 2020 what is detestable to the Lord ?                  Have we made up our own rules about this ?

We would all say, most likely, that sin is detestable to the Lord... so then that begs the question..     how do we define sin ?

Sadly a lot of us make up our own rules about that one as well....

one of the best definitions I have heard about sin, is 

“missing the mark or target”

I know there are countless times in my own life where I have missed the mark, most likely you also...  and so that’s why the repentance and rebuilding of the altar in our lives and in our churches is so critical.

Sin is a barrier to our relationship with God... it is an idol that must be removed, it is a thing that God asks us to do.....many of us are slow at this, we find every excuse and reason under the sun for our inaction in this.

We compromise scriptural truth by making it work for us...bending and twisting it so that it fits with a worldly view, that makes us feel good about ourselves, but all the while, I am not sure whether we even think about the fact that our actions and inactions may in fact be detestable to God.

 Do we even care about that anymore ?  Now that’s a tough question isnt it ?

I mean do we really truly care if we are pleasing God or just pleasing ourselves these days ?

I find that statement challenging to myself, you may not...you may be living life way better than me, but it doesn't change the truth, for me at least...

God calls me, and maybe you also to remove and repair.... to repent and revive.

Asa’s life, was most likely not perfect either....

But we still see him remove the detestable idols and repair the altar of the Lord and maybe, just maybe, there is some symbolism for our personal lives and our churches these days. Perhaps this is a metaphor for us also.

Is God pleased with our worship services ? Is He pleased with our prayer life, both personal and corporate ? What about our study of the Bible, is it changing us, or are we changing it ?

I think when we fiddle with the Bible, are changing it so to speak, that this would be most likely detestable to Him. (Just a thought)

And what about those commandments....

Love God with all we have, and all we are....

Love others like we love ourselves...

Go into the world and make disciples ...

Are we in fact hurting God by our inaction and careless handling of these commands ?

Well for me today, I have found that one verse in 2 Chronicles 15(vs8) really challenging and I want the altar of my Lord, in good condition in my own heart and life. I want some things in my life removed, just in case they are offending my God and He finds it detestable in me.

This worship service at Ringwood Corps... when we were CO's there...(pictured above) was one of the best Salvo Traditional ones I have been in..... it isn't about the style of song or music, its about who we are worshipping and why .

Worship on Sunday morning or whenever it is for you...is not about you, the choice of songs  and their style is not about you, the worship is all about Him and us gathering together in unity to exalt HIM, to magnify HIM, to make HIM look good and to listen out for His voice as He speaks our name.

The next time you find yourself critical of a song or style of music, whether its contemporary or traditional.... just ask yourself why you are being critical.... we don’t sing our songs in church to you, we sing them to HIM. And for HIM.  

It’s really important to remember this.

It's about repairing the altar in our hearts, getting ourselves off it, and placing God back on it.  It's about removing things from our lives that may be detestable to HIM.

When its all over, when it is all said and done...

What really matters is that God is glorified and served and honoured by us, however we do that, we just must make sure that’s what we are in fact doing.

#itsallaboutJesus.