Not All There

Reflections on the book of 1 Kings

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been

~1 Kings 11:4

I was once told, “It’s ok to be religious (speaking about Christianity), as long as it doesn’t get in the way of your desire to succeed and make money.”

I’ve yet to forget it, because it remains one of the most rotten slices of the pie of worldly counsel that I’ve ever been served. 

I was thirteen years old at the time I heard that.  I hated what I heard, but I’ve also seen it lived out around me over the past two decades.  Modern-day Western Christianity is a brand of faith that can be distinctly marked by unwholesome devotion.  I’ve come to find that, for the most part, our faith isn’t all that admired by fellow believers in different countries.  We’ve become experts on compartmentalization.  We’re experts on being Sunday-morning Christians – giving our dues to Christ on the Lord’s Day and treating the rest of the week as it it didn’t belong to the Lord.  To live wholly for the Lord – to seek His Word and will in every facet of life – almost seems unbalanced and freakish to the typical American Christian.  That’s why terms like “hard-core Christian,” “Jesus freak” (aside from the 60s movement), and “hyper fundamentalist” have arisen.  In our community, Christians have been designated to two different levels.  There are the normal ones and the crazy ones. 

Granted, there’s a difference between being wholly devoted to Christ and simply being weird in an extreme way.  Weirdness is usually accompanied by the expression of legalism and judgmental arrogance.  So before expounding in this entry, there are a few mists to be cleared.  No, there is nothing wrong with your six-year old dressing up as Micky Mouse on October 31 and asking people for candy.  No, I do not believe that home-schooling is the holiest form of education (and neither are we against it).  No, there is nothing wrong with going to a school dance and bringing a date.  No, your pod-cast list doesn’t have to be exclusively from Christian music.  No, there is nothing wrong with being a millionaire.  No, there is no biblical prohibition about watching TV on school days.  And no, there is nothing wrong with reading the NLT translation of the Bible!

But there is something wrong with a life that claims devotion to God in some areas but not in others. 

This unwholesome heart – the heart that was not all there – was Solomon’s problem.  Read 1 Kings.  It starts off well, but ends tragically.  The son of King David loved the Lord, but not wholly as his father did (1 Kings 3:3).  Over time, it led to his engagement in polygamy and idolatry (1 Kings 11).  Sure, he may have loved the Lord, and through him great things for the nation of Israel were accomplished.  But when it came to the realm of women in particular, Solomon wanted to pursue romantic and sexual relationships on his terms – not on God’s terms.  The consequences were nothing short of devastating.  Israel, the united nation of twelve tribes, was divided into two kingdoms – Israel and Judah – that would remain in a state of civil war with one another.  Eventually, due the lack of united power would cause both nations to be overcome.  Consequences these were…of the divided heart of a king.

Lest I be misunderstood, God does not expect every christian to be simultaneously at the same level of spiritual maturity and wisdom.  But does God expect every Christian to be wholly devoted to Him with an undivided?  Absolutely.  A compartmentalized heart is not the kind of heart that He desires from those whom He has redeemed for Himself and for His kingdom work.

By the way, Solomon’s divided heart remained a legacy.  It was a tragic legacy, but a legacy it was.  It was passed down from one king to another who walked after him.  Again, read 1 Kings.  How many times you see the author point out that so and so king “did evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father.”  This was the story of the divided kingdom.  The legacy of the divided, compartmentalized heart that Solomon passed down.  Thankfully, he was a believer.  And thankfully, he repented and lived long enough to warn the rest of us about it in Ecclesiastes.  It must be noted that it is indeed possible for a truly regenerate man to be divided in his love for God, his love for himself, and his love for the world.  Again, western Christianity.

But what exactly does it look like for a man to have a wholesome, undivided heart for the Lord?  What exactly does it look like for a man to have a heart that is “all there”?  A man with a divided heart is a man who seeks to obey the Lord in certain areas of life but not in others.  The man with an undivided heart, conversely, is someone who seeks to obey God in everything – yes everything – that he does.  He seeks the Lord’s honor in his private life.  He aims for obedience to God in his marriage and fatherhood.  He ambitions to please God in his pursuit of a career and in the manner in which he conducts himself in his career.  He is mindful of God’s character as he engages in physical activities.  He is intent on furthering God’s kingdom in his educational pursuits.  From the way he spends his money to the way he dresses to the way he maps out his daily schedule, he does everything for God.  He is a man given over to the singular pursuit of God’s glory in every facet of life, every nook and cranny, every minute movement and magnanimous decision.  He is a man who is consumed with the will of God and reverent of the character of God in every step of his journey from this life to the next.

Such a man is the way he is – not because he desires to be weird, but because he understands who owns him.  He is a man who is embraces the reality that he has not only been saved, but bought.  Christ’s blood not only rescued him, but purchased him.  With the sacrifice of His own life, He gained ours for Himself.  This we must acknowledge.  This we must respect.  This we must embrace. 

Such a man, well, Solomon failed to be.  As did the majority of the kings of Israel who walked after him.  And 1 Kings was written for our instruction, such that we may not fall into the same transgression.  1 Kings was written, to remind us to be wholly devoted to the Lord, to love Him with all of our hearts and souls. 

1 Kings was written, to remind us that for the Lord we need to be all there.  So that, unlike what I was told as a child, we may instead say “I will try to be successful and make money, as long as I’m convinced that it’s what the Lord desires for me to do.”