My running shoes aren’t collecting dust, but they’re not wearing out too fast either!

When we first moved to Pennsylvania, I had a love for running that translated into quickly building up to running miles at a time. Now I still run, but the heart’s gone and the distance has shrunk way down. It’s still there, but there’s no heart in it.

2 Kings 10:27-28 says, “And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. 28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.”

But verses 30-31 show that some action was there but not Jehu’s heart (at least not all of it): “And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. 31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.”

Jehu obeyed God regarding Ahab’s household and even eliminated Baal worship. 

But he tragically wouldn’t clean up his own life or deal with his own personal sins.  

Following God has to start with our heart and come from the heart. Actions without heart will lead to burnout  and resentment or even outright rebellion.