Doing Research on Zealous Internet Start-ups

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 19:1-8

Logan was really excited. He had just found out about an internet start-up company that had great potential and in his excitement, he jumped into the deal, paying five million dollars for this company. The deal went through and he couldn't contain his excitement. But then the first lawsuit hit. The company Logan had purchased had stolen it's primary concept from someone else and Logan hadn't done his homework. As a result, he lost everything. He was excited. He was ready to work hard. But he didn't have the knowledge he needed to make informed decisions.

This fictional example from the series Gilmore girls, mirrors a number of times in life when we make bad decisions because we are excited but we don't have all the information. We are sincere.  We are eager. But we lack the necessary information and we allow our emotions to guide us. We fall desperately in love and marry or give ourselves away only to discover later that we really didn't know the person. We invest our money in an expensive item we're really excited about, only to discover its a piece of junk and all our money just went down the drain. We jump into an exciting job opportunity only to discover we missed some key details and now we live without any prospects, stuck in a position we hate.

One of the common problems we experience is allowing our excitement to overrule our better judgment. But Proverbs 19:2 reminds us, "Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins" (HCSB). Paul, also reminds us of his fellow Israelites who, though extremely zealous for God, missed salvation because their zeal was not based on knowledge and they "sought to establish their own" righteousness instead (Rom 10:3) . Being excited about someone or something can be exhilarating and sometimes we can get a thrill from just jumping into something. But acting on emotion without having all the necessary information can be not only detrimental but, according to this verse, sinful.  

Don't get me wrong, there are times when God says, "Jump," and we need to obey. But if the direct command of God isn't there, make sure you have as many facts as possible before making life-changing decisions. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache.

Worshiping Like Womanizers

Suggested Reading: 2 Chronicles 30:23-31:1

My wife used to watch a show called Gilmore Girls, which I think I've mentioned once or twice. When Rory, one of the main characters, went to college she met a boy named Logan who was something of a womanizer. He dated a different girl every night of the week and had a little black book the size of the encyclopedia (That may be a slight exaggeration. Maybe). He and Rory started dating (as one of his many girlfriends) because she thought she would be ok with a casual relationship. When she realized she wasn't ok just being one of many, she went to Logan to let him know she was done. But somewhere along the way Logan had fallen in love with Rory and, instead of accepting her ending of the casual relationship, Logan committed to Rory. Logan stopped seeing other girls cold turkey and was committed to Rory alone because he would rather date only her than have dozens of girls all the time without Rory. Being in love with Rory caused Logan to change his entire lifestyle.

In 2 Chronicles 30, where King Hezekiah re-instituted the Passover Feast after a decades long (if not longer) lapse, we saw God extend mercy and overlook the technicalities of purification rules and we saw the people respond by choosing to put their lives on hold and spend an extra seven days in worship. But their renewed devotion to God in response to God's mercy, didn't stop with more worship time. When the festival was done, the people who had celebrated went out and began to remove all of the altars  that were set up outside of the temple which violated the laws for worship. Then, they went even further and "broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one" (2 Chronicles 31:1, NIV). Once they were finished getting rid of the unlawful altars dedicated to God, they then went out and removed all of the places where idols were worshiped in the land.

Now, these idols and the places where they were worshiped were big business. Lots of money was made off of these idols. Some of them made their living by acting as priests in these high places. Having these places around made a convenient excuse for not going to the Temple to worship as the law of Moses required. But the people removed them all because their renewed devotion to God spurred them to take action to purify their lives from sin and to begin living in a way that pleased God. You see, loving someone affects the way you live your life. Logan's love for Rory caused him to give up all the other girls who might have gotten in the way, and the people of Judah and Israel loved God in such a way that they removed any of the other objects of worship that might have gotten in the way of their relationship with God.

We can claim we love God all we want. But when we continue to allow things in our lives that get in the way of that love, we don't have much credibility. When you love someone, it affects the way you live, it affects the choices you make and the things you allow in your life.  Far too often, though, we allow things in our lives that get in the way of our love for God, things that distract us from God or that push us out of God's will. But if we really love God like we say we do, that love will affect the way we live and the things we allow in our lives.

Is there something in your life that you just can't seem to let go of, even though it interferes with your relationship with God? If you really want to love God, it might be time to get rid of it.

He Was an OK Guy Before He Was Evil

Suggested Reading: 1 Kings 21:1-26

Mandy Moore once starred in a movie called A Walk to Remember, playing a devout Christian girl dying of Leukemia who falls in love with a boy named Logan. At the beginning of the movie, Logan is running around with a pretty bad crowd and ends up getting into a lot of trouble with the law. But when he falls in love with Moore's character and his friends begin changing, he ends up becoming an entirely different person until, when he again starts interacting with his old friends, even they begin behaving in a much less unlawful way.

The character arc reminds me, in reverse, of another, much more tragic story from the book of 1 Kings. King Ahab was known as an evil king. Not only did he promote the worship of idols, he was also responsible for some terrible atrocities. But when you read Ahab's story, you get the sense that he's not all that bad a guy. In fact, much of the time you end up feeling sorry for the guy. In many ways, his life was epitomized by the story of Naboth's vineyard.

Naboth owned a vineyard right up near the palace and Ahab had always wanted a vineyard near the palace. So Ahab approached Naboth about selling the vineyard to him at a very good price or possibly trading him for another vineyard in a different location. Naboth refused because the land had belonged to his family for generations. So Ahab went home and pouted. He whined and moaned and complained but he accepted Naboth's refusal. Only when Ahab's wife Jezebel got involved did things go wrong. Jezebel reminded Ahab that he was king and suggested he could have whatever he wanted. Then she arranged for Naboth to meet an untimely and humiliating death before presenting Naboth's vineyard to Ahab, who was thrilled to receive it. (1 Kings 21). At the end of his life, Ahab was warned by a prophet that the Lord was going to judge him severely for his acts of wickedness. Ahab put on sackcloth and mourned in humility and God sent Ahab a reprieve.

Ahab really does seem more like a pathetic figure than an evil guy. Except for one little detail. His wife. 1 Kings 21:25 reads, "Still there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord's sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him" (HCSB). From then on, all the evil kings of Israel were compared to Ahab. You see, Ahab's problem wasn't that he had a mind that functioned in an evil way. Ahab's problem was that he allowed himself to be influenced by evil people, Jezebel in particular. Ahab allowed himself to be dragged along and then got involved with someone else's evil mindset until it became his own.

But Ahab is not alone. I see people every day who get into trouble because they are involved with the wrong people, whether friends, co-workers, classmates or boyfriends and girlfriends. Especially boyfriends and girlfriends. Trying to please someone else, they always find themselves in trouble for things they would never do on their own. Sometimes, they even know that the problem is a person or group they shouldn’t be with but they just "can't help" the need they feel to be with them.  Sometimes they use the excuse that they are trying to witness to them or to influence them for Christ when everyone knows which direction the influence is really flowing.

Are you finding yourself in trouble for things you would never do on your own? When you find yourself in a bad or troublesome situation, is there a particular person or group that always seems to be around? If so, remove that person's influence from your life. Don't let yourself become another Ahab.