Scripture:

2 Chronicles 11:15-16

15 Then he appointed for himself priests for the [a]high places, for the demons, and the calf idols which he had made. 16 And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.

"What We Will Not Let In Our Gates"

Today, in our portion, we get the picture of not only wicked times but wicked leaders. In Vv. 15, we see Jeroboam's wicked acts of idolatry and demon worship.   We know from 1 Kings that he even went as far as creating his own priesthood, not Levites, not God's set-apart people, but people from the northern kingdoms.    The times were wicked, and many were caught up in it.  But here is verse 16, we see something of importance, something significant that the Levites and those who had "set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel.

What we tolerate is important, and the Levites and these godly people would not tolerate the wickedness of their times, and they refused to be part of it, so much so that they left their homes and traveled to Jerusalem to worship and sacrifice to the Lord.    This is a reminder that we have a choice in what we allow in our homes, to influence our children, to influence us, what we will tolerate, it reminds us that we have a choice, to choose what is good, to choose the Lord, to guard our gates, to refuse to "go with the flow."

Today, our God Shot is "Be Set Apart." 1 Peter 2:9 says that you and I are set-apart, and I love this; it says we are a "peculiar people," a holy nation, a royal priesthood. Peculiar means "different." We don't look like the world around us.  The second part of this is that to consider what we allow through the gates of our homes, our TV, our music, the internet, our phones, people, what we allow to be an influence, to guard this gate, to keep our hearts ready to seek and serve the Lord...

Lord, help us guard our gates, help us never go with the flow, tolerate evil, help us guard the gates of our homes, what we allow in, and what we will not allow, protect our families, our children, our homes, let our hearts always be set to seek you, to serve you in Jesus' name, Amen!