Topic: Insincerity [DCLM Daily Manna 24 October 2020 Devotional By Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: 2 Chronicles 25:1-10 (KJV)
1 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoiada of Jerusalem.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
3 Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.
4 But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.
5 Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.
6 He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver.
7 But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.
8 But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.
9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.
10 Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.
Key Verse: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.” – (2 Chronicles 25:2)
MESSAGE:
During the scramble for the control of Africa at the end of the 19th century by imperialist European rulers, Belgium’s King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all. While the great powers competed for territory elsewhere, the king of one of Europe’s smallest countries carved his own private colony out of 100 square kilometre of Central African rainforest. He claimed he was doing it to “protect” the natives from Arab slavers, and to open the heart of Africa to “Christian missionaries” and Western capitalists, but ended up taking their lands and enslaving the people.
King Amaziah in our text was said to have done that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect heart. While revenging the death of his father, he declined killing the children of the murderers claiming he was obeying God’s commands not to kill those not directly involved in a crime. He equally obeyed the prophet, when he was told to dismiss the soldiers he hired from Israel. But later showed his true colours by introducing strange gods into the land, and oppressing the people.
Like King Leopold II and Amaziah in our text, many so-called believers have through their actions brought shame to Christianity in their communities and neighbourhoods. They would initially show much love and appear outwardly to be saints, only to defraud, deceive, and destroy those who fall victims to their sweet promises.
Our claim to Christianity and righteousness should not end by mere words of mouth; it should be backed up by a corresponding action of truth and sincerity.
Thought For The Day: True Christianity is not lip service.
The Bible In One Year: Jeremiah 7-9
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
