Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

NEGATIVE BALLAST

February 15, 2010

Negative Ballast

I don't know too much about boats, ships, etc, but I do know that many require ballast. It's weight on board that keeps the vessel stable. Ballast is a good and necessary thing. However...

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Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
- 2 Kings 12:2,3 TNIV
 

All and all, Joash was not too bad of a king. But he trifled with bad ballast, negative ballast. He continued to mix his gods, and allowed the beliefs and practices of paganism infect him and his people. A common mistake. It meant his leadership, his people were not stable to sail the waters of daily living. And it would prove enough to sink him.

We have no high places; sacrifices are not offered...not literally. But we need to be aware of and wary of, bad ballast, things that pull us away from one-hearted devotion to Christ the Lord. What are the distractions that imbalance the stability of the ship of your life?
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson