I have often heard that notion that if I do more “good” than “bad” then I have accomplished a life well lived. How does one make sense of such an argument? Is a car good if it breaks down at least one fewer day than it gets you to work. We would agree, no. A worker who puts in 21 out of 40 required work hours per week is not considered a good worker. Being unable to see 49% of the time does not give a person good vision. We are not trying to get to (or just past) zero.
Very briefly from the Word, hoping not to minimize the great reforms that occurred during the reign of Josiah, King of Judah…
Josiah paid fair wages to his workers, deeply sought to understand the law of the LORD, renewed the covenant between the people of Judah and the LORD, removed (an amazingly extensive quantity of) idols and places of idol worship from the land, honored the life of godly men who came before him, observed the Passover unlike his predecessors, and cleared out of the land every sort of detestable thing he could find. It is said of Josiah in God’s word:
Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him. (2 Kings 23:25)
Did not all of Josiah’s accomplishments not get Judah back to “zero” after the decades of vileness that preceded his reign? The answer is no.
In spite of all that, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with. For the LORD had said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.’” (2 Kings 23:26-27)
God already told us that Josiah was the best of the best but that was not enough because balancing the scales is never enough. Every evil act must be punished. Every good act will be rewarded. God made us for relationship. To have relationship with the Holy God, we must become holy. We need more Josiah’s you may say and I agree. More like this are a great start but the best of the best do not get where we want to be on their own power. There is something more required. More to come on this another day.
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