I’ve said it before, I like “bottom-line” statements. Oh, I know there’s a danger, perhaps, in trying to over-simplify life . . . a risk of being accused of using “pat answers.” But, I also think that some things really aren’t too complicated . . . that, when you boil them down, it really does end up at some foundational, easy to understand principle or “law” of life . . . some “bottom-line” view of how to walk-the-talk that, if heeded, can serve you pretty well. This morning, the three chapters I read in 2Chronicles did just that . . . they came down to one verse . . . one simple lesson . . . a refresher lesson that I’d do well to cling to.

“And he [King Rehoboam] did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” — 2Chronicles 12:14

There it is . . . you want the essence of Rehoboam’s failing in life boiled down to 10 words? . . . there it is . . . “he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.”

Yeah, I know that there was a lot going on behind the scenes . . . that, behind the scenes, God was fulfilling His own sovereign purposes. I get that the sudden crumbling of the nation of Israel with its division into a 10 tribe northern kingdom and the 2 tribe smaller southern kingdom was all part of God’s plan and required some sort of event to start the wheels in motion . . . that “the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His world” (2Chron. 10:15). But at the same time, it came down to the actions of a man . . . a man who should have known better . . . who could have listened better to wise counsel . . . who could have decided better to serve his people. And he was a man who thought “might was right” . . . who, when he “had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, forsook the law of the Lord” (2Chron. 12:2). He strengthened himself and, in that self-sufficiency, he saw no need to seek the Lord. And the bottom line is . . . you do evil when you don’t prepare your heart to seek the Lord. Simple? Yes. True? I’m thinkin’ so . . .

You know, we could approach avoiding doing evil things by starting a long list. At the top of the list is the heading “Things Not To Do Today.” And under that heading start writing down all the “bad things” we shouldn’t do. It could be quite a long list . . . we’d agree on a lot of them . . . we’d disagree on some of them . . . and, in our own strength and our own self-sufficiency, we’d do a miserable job of trying to accomplish this “Not To Do” list.

Or, we could take a relatively small piece of paper and head it up with “Things To Do Today” and then write down just one thing, “Set my heart on seeking the God of my salvation.” Now, it would take us awhile to check off that “to do” . . . like a lifetime . . . but, as long as we were working on it, I’m thinking the “Not To Do List” would kind of look after itself. I live in the light and it dispels the darkness . . . I fill my life with the pursuit of the kingdom and the ways of the world have little to feed on . . . I continually renew my allegiance to Jesus alone as King and other masters find it hard to get a foothold.

You know I’m not talking about never failing . . . it’s not about never working off the wrong list . . . but, bottom line, Rehoboam did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek God and so, the converse reality is that when one does set their heart on seeking the Lord, then evil has little room to work.

Mine is to, by His grace and through the power of His Son living in me, set my heart each day to seek Him . . . to know Him through His word . . . to hear Him through His indwelling Spirit . . . to heed and obey Him when He directs. I’m not saying it’s necessarily easy . . . but I am thinking it’s amazingly simple.

Time to pull out my “Things To Do Today” list and get going on it . . . for His glory . . .