The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“He [King Amaziah] did what was right in the sight of the Lord, only not wholeheartedly.”

—2 Chronicles 25:2

In the Bible, we see many stories of people who tried to follow God part–way or who followed him well for a time, then fell away. Each of those stories show us that God desires and, indeed, requires our true and persevering devotion.

King Amaziah was defeated and eventually killed because he took false gods from another culture and began to worship them as his own, despite the true God having helped him win a battle against those very people.

It’s a lesson on how easily we can become ensnared by the wiles of this world and that winning one battle does not mean we can take off our spiritual armor. Why would Amaziah have been tempted by gods that did not even protect those he had defeated?

We can ask ourselves the same thing. Why are we tempted by riches, fame, success, and unattainable beauty standards when we can see that the rich, famous, successful, and beautiful are often the emptiest of us all?

The world’s idols will never satisfy, and we would do well to remember that God is a jealous god who will not allow us to run after those false gods because he loves us. He is jealous of our devotion, as a good husband is jealous of a man trying to lure his wife away with false promises.

We are to be wholeheartedly faithful to the end (Matthew 24:13; Hebrews 6:11; Hebrews 12:1–2), being sure of our hope in him and not lured away by the false promises of these worldly idols.

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