Micah J. Sturm

“For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified” (2 Chronicles 30:17).

The history of God’s people reads like a relationship on a roller coaster.

A righteous king rules for some time leading the people in faithfulness to God. That pattern dies with the king only to be followed by a wicked monarch who defies everything to do with the righteousness and holiness of the one true God.

This ancient cycle remains among the Church today.

Like King Ahaz, whose name means “he grasped,” we have many in the congregation who are grasping at everything to find what’s missing in our lives.

We claim our identity as the children of God but are in practice serving substitutes—carving out our own image of truth (see 2 Chronicles 28:2).

In an attempt to blend in with the culture around us, we sacrifice our children on the altars of self-advancement (28:3).

We spread ourselves out and give all we have to everything except God (28:4); in fact, we even embrace and seek help from our enemy (28:16-23).

Our choices can contribute to the closing of the doors to the house of God (28:24) or, at least making the Church ineffective in our mission! There must be the recognition that something is very wrong with this!

When Ahaz dies, his son Hezekiah (“the strength of the LORD”) begins his reign with the desire to return to the point from which his father had departed.

Hezekiah orders the removal of all the filth! In the strength of God, he got rid of everything that contaminated or cluttered the dwelling place of God (29:5, 16-19).

Hezekiah invites the people of God to return to their roots by the renewed celebration of their Independence Day—Passover, when God delivered them from bondage in Egypt!

The desired return involves a rejection of their stubbornness, yielding themselves to the LORD, coming to His house, and serving Him (30:7-8).

There were critics (30:10) then and now. But those who responded had “singleness of heart” to obey the LORD (30:12)!

The people of God who joined the king in recognizing something was wrong, who removed the filth from within, who returned to their roots as those freed from their chains—these were renewed with rejoicing like they had never known (30:21, 25-26)!

I am convinced that this is the greatest need of the Church—entire sanctification as a miraculous moment of God’s grace that propels believers into limitless possibilities!

Too many of us live as Ahaz—grasping for things that promote us thus leading us further from the Lord. Let’s follow the pattern of Hezekiah and, in the strength of God:

(1) Realize that something is missing in our relationship with the Lord—too much self and clutter;

(2) Remove the filth that’s been permitted to infiltrate our hearts and lives;

(3) Return to our roots as holiness people—people set free by Christ and inhabited by His Spirit making us a different people;

(4) Renew our rejoicing—what we thought was gone forever can be restored in abundance!

The Church continues the roller coaster relationship with the Lord.

However, it is absolutely a possibility of divine grace to live with a stability of heart that keeps our focus intensely on Christ.

We’ve lived beneath our privilege and settled for a life of grasping when the strength of God is available!

What a difference our churches would make in this world and for eternity if MANY in the congregation WERE sanctified!