Kablooie!

It's funny to watch kids try to hide something they are not supposed to have.  Even though you've already seen the toy, switchblade or other contraband in their hand, they put it behind their back.  They think that they've hidden it from you and magically erased all memory of the object from your psyche.  We laugh to ourselves and think, "O, Silly little person."  That's not exactly what we think; but you get the picture.  

But just how different are we than little kids?  There are things in our lives that we try to hide from God and each other and we fail miserably.  In theory, most of us know that we can't hide anything from God, but yet we still try.  

In I Samuel 15, we find King Saul going to attack the Amalekites as God commanded.  Now this might be troubling for you, but God said, "totally destroy everything that belongs to them."  God clearly included even the women and children, cattle, sheep, and other animals.  You might be asking why.  The basic reason, for sake of time, is that these people had known God and rejected Him and were very evil.  If they were brought into the Israelite nation, they would have led many astray.  God, in His wisdom, knew that they could not withstand an attack from within.  

But that's not the point.  The point is, Saul destroyed everything.  Almost.  He destroyed every person and creature except the King, and the best of the livestock.  The Bible points out they spared "everything that was good."  Saul claimed they spared these things to offer them to the Lord.  It seemed like a good reason.  God didn't think so.  The text says that God was "grieved". His heart was broken that He had appointed Saul as king.  

In Saul's mind he had obeyed God, he even said that he had.  But Saul came to understand a major point and we would do well to follow.  God does not desire 75% obedience.  He doesn't want 9/10ths of your life.  He doesn't want half of your devotion.  He wants it all.  Every last drop.  When he calls you to purge sin from your life, he means every sin (Hebrews 12:1).  He doesn't want you to hold on to that secret sin that no one knows about.  He wants it all destroyed.  He doesn't want you to spare the best.  It all has to be put to death.  Why?

Why is God so demanding?  He knows that if you leave one small morsel of sin in your life, that it will grow and devastate you.  It will soon become your master and run your life.  Just like Saul, you won't be able to fellowship with God, you won't be full of God's spirit anymore.   

So what do you and I do?  We spend time everyday asking for wisdom to see ourselves as we really are.  We pray that God will help us to look into the mirror that is God's Word and we'll rejoice over the things that bring him joy and be disgusted by the things that turn his stomach.  If we have the goal to utterly destroy sin in our life, we'll be a part of the kingdom...forever.