BIBLE BITES
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Quit Blaming Your Baggage
Have you ever caught yourself justifying your low spiritual state – sort of letting yourself off the hook type of thing? “I’m not doing very well spiritually but I have my reasons. You don’t understand me because you don’t have the same background I have. Things happened to me in the past that have caused me to be the way I am today.”
King Josiah could have said: “I hope nobody has high expectations for me. In my background, my grandfather was about as wicked as kings could be. He worshiped false gods. He offered his own sons as human sacrifices. He practiced witchcraft and did other dark things. Don’t you think that would have an impact on me? And my dad wasn’t much better! At least grandpa repented late in life, but my father was so evil, his own officials assassinated him. So I’ve got it in my genes. I hope I do better spiritually than them, but I probably won’t because I’ve got a lot of baggage.”
Fortunately Josiah didn’t think like that. It’s so refreshing to come across his life in Old Testament history. It seems like he came to the throne with all the optimism of youth.
Sizing a crown to fit the head of the new young king was someone’s task. In his teens Josiah’s love and devotion to the Lord was obvious. He realized he had his own life to live. He was responsible for the choices he made and he couldn’t blame what he did on what they did in the past. It was his turn to choose to chart his course for God. That’s it! He chose to chart a different path than his fathers. The past was past with Josiah. Now he was responsible to walk closely with the Lord and to lead the nation in a spiritual path to God.
Josiah initiated a robust spiritual restoration program. The House of the Lord was his priority. During the process, a long-lost and disregarded Book of the Law was found during the temple renovation project. The tears streamed down young Josiah’s face as they read the Word of God to him. His heart was broken over how far they had all strayed from God. He summoned the entire population to a meeting. Standing beside a temple pillar, he read the Word of God to the people. He publicly pledged to follow the Lord faithfully and to carry out the words written in the Book. What a leader for the Lord Josiah was!
He felt no obligation to carry the baggage of his past along with him. Deliberately he left the baggage behind. It was a conscious decision before the Lord to honor and serve HIM – regardless of what had happened in the past.