What About Your High Places?

Most of us know the story of Solomon.  David’s successor.  Wisest man to ever live.  Built the temple for the Lord.  Had over 700 wives and 1000 concubines.

Here is an interesting note in 1 Kings about Solomon: Solomon “loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father, David, EXCEPT he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”

The high places were associated with pagan gods.  One of the problems with Solomon, perhaps THE problem with Solomon, was that he tried to mix worshiping the Lord with other practices.  Many of these he learned from his many wives, which could be the subject of another post.

The high places offended the Lord.  Worship that He was not the subject of took place there.  Worship that He had not instructed Israel to conduct happened there.  When reform came to Israel, one of the things that happened was that the high places were torn down.  The high places did not involve the Lord.

Good thing we don’ t have to worry about that kind of thing.

Or do we?

Do we have high places in our lives?  Do we have spots and areas where we try to mix our love and worship with the Lord with practices and actions that are foreign to being a follower of Christ?

I’m afraid that answer is yes for most of us.

We build high places in our lives.  We justify them.  We turn a blind eye to them.  We love them.  We even come to believe they are part of our walk with the Lord.

Tearing them down is hard.  Tearing them down is painful.  Tearing them down will bring notice to you.  Others will object to  you tearing down your high places.

Tearing down the high places is rewarding.  It removes barriers to your relationship with Christ.  It clears the path for your walking in the Spirit.  It allows you to run the race of faith without falling.

My challenge is to determine what high places are in my life.  Will you take the challenge?

What about your high places?

140 Words (More or Less) About Your Christmas Past

It’s Twitterific Thursday, where I write a post in 140 words, more or less.  Today, I write about your Christmas past.

Perhaps you have something in your past that holds you back.  Something that you haven’t overcome.  Something that handicaps you.  I want to challenge you during this Christmas season to push through and beat it.  Why?  Because of the genealogy of Jesus.

Jacob was a cheat.

Judah slept with his daughter-in-law.

Rahab was prostitute.

Ruth was a Moabite.

David was an adulterer and murderer.

Solomon let his wives turn his heart from God.

Most of the kings that followed Solomon did evil in God’s sight.

That is Jesus’ past.  Those are his ancestors.  That is the line that he came through.

Oh yeah.  His mother, Mary,  became pregnant while betrothed to Joseph.  That wasn’t as accepted as it is today.

If you didn’t notice, this did not hold Christ back.  It didn’t keep him from achieving His mission.

Are you letting anything from your past hold you back? Why don’t you evaluate that this Christmas and find a way to overcome it?