Joel M Bradshaw

1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, 2but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, 3and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.–2 Chronicles 28

1. I want you to think back to when you were twenty.
2. What kinds of choices did you regularly make?
3. I look back and see my addictive behaviors and sinful choices.
4. I basically served the idol of myself, as if I mattered more than God.
5. I was a hypocrite who needed to repent of my ways. I’m glad I eventually was led to a rock bottom moment where I humbly did so.
6. Ahaz made choices that compromised with evil. He even sacrificed his children. He was selfish and intentional. He was a self-focused twenty-year-old.
7. Think of your heart and life now. What kinds of choices do you regularly make? Where do you compromise?–JMB