2nd Chronicles Chapter 31. To obey is to love.
I'm amazed how Judah went from such a nation of evil under the kingship of Ahaz to a completely turned around godly nation in just three months under the kingship of Ahaz's son, King Hezekiah. To me it's because King Hezekiah was a great leader who made God his number one priority and he demonstrated it in his life choices. In the first three months of his kingship he made decisions to:
1. Purify God's Temple,
2. Purify the priests and Levites,
3. Purify his leadership, and 4. Purify the whole nation. He did so by directing everyone to the Lord. As a result, lives were changed.
What do my Choices in life give evidence to? Do my life decisions demonstrate my love, number one, for the Lord? Or do my life choices demonstrate a love for myself and for the world? John 14:21-24 states that if we love God, we will obey him. In other words, our Life choices will be a testimony of our true love for the Lord. If we make choices that are not obedient to God, then we can't say that we love God. Love is Not mere words. Love is demonstrated by our actions and our obedience to God.
Do I love the Lord? Do my actions demonstrate that love?
If we were on jury for the last 3 months of our lives, would they have enough evidence to convict us as a follower and lover of Christ? Or would they not be able to?
We read in the last two verses of the chapter, verses 20 and 21 about how Hezekiah did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord and he did it with all his heart. What a great testimony and example for us! I was reminded of a couple of other verses today.
Matthew 22:37
And He (Jesus) said to him (a Pharisee lawyer), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
1 John 5:1-2
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.