"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...."
(1 Kings 11:4, NASB)
Solomon, who reigned over the greatest extent of the Jewish Kingdom, who gave us The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and the Proverbs, ended his life building altars to the gods of his many wives. I once traced the life of Demas, whom Paul mentions in three different epistles. I was hoping that, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world," was not the last time Paul referred to him, but, alas, it was. His forsaking was due to his love of, "this present world." My Dear Father, may it never be!
Every time I come to our text I experience, "the fear of the Lord." Sorry, but I am not in the camp of the "Oh-don't-worry-about-it." Well, it is not a worry; it is a, "take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly." Better men than me, "having loved this present world," turned their backs on Jesus Christ.
We cannot speak with certainty of the end of Solomon or Demas or those whom we have known to take a similar route. But even if they are in Glory, is that the way any Lover of Jesus Christ wants to "go out?" I am not sitting on some "judgment throne" here against any person who has gone that way. But there are the continual exhortations, the encouragements, the warnings of the, "God- Breathed," Word. "Choose you this day," is not just an altar call; it is a daily call. Solomon would have done well to make this a daily conscience decision. because if you let too many days go by without a determined, "choose you this day," you could make some very wrong choices.
"Choose you this day," in that call is the possibility of staying daily in Jesus Christ, daily relying on Jesus, daily clinging to Jesus, obeying Jesus. Maybe my Grandfather knew something so many today do not know, when, at just fourteen years of age, he responded to the altar call every night of a two week revival meeting! Maybe he was doing what the Bible says to us all, "....be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall"!!
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray I will, "be all the more...eager to make sure...." Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
