He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. – 2 Kings 14:3

Today's Scripture Reading (March 23, 2026): 2 Kings 14

Rules. I am convinced that we have a love-hate relationship with them. We like to complain about the many rules and regulations we have to follow, but the reality is that staying within them is easy. We know if we are right or wrong at a glance. Maybe we can decide that, in this instance, we want to be in the wrong, or we can rationalize why the rule is incorrect, but the point is that we know. Knowing we are right or wrong is something that rules can do for us.

I had a friend who has not always been on the right side of the law. He has lived a life where the police are often seen as the enemy, and these officers are always trying to prove that you have lived outside of society's rules. And if they can't find anything, they are not beyond inventing crimes to accuse you of because they know you are guilty of something. Recently, a visitor to his house called the police to do a wellness check on him. My friend was not amused. He knew where he had been outside the law in the past, and he understood where he was living outside the rules now. Police officers were nothing more than people who brought with them more rules he would have to live his life by or risk arrest. Since the visit, my friend has lived looking over his shoulder, worried about the next rule-keeper to enter his life. And yet, in his own way, my friend is also a rule keeper, and he lives by rules, often keeping regulations to which I am not even faithful.

I know the whole thing is complicated and hard to understand. So let me complicate it a little more. The main focus of our lives as Christians is not to follow rules but to live in accordance with the heart of God. The rules can get us part of the way, but not all the way we need to go with our spiritual lives. Please, don't be offended, but if you are following rules as a Christian and worrying about the rules you break, then you are still in the infancy of your faith. God wants so much more for you and from you.

Amaziah did what was right, but he didn't go all the way. When compared with David, he didn't compare favorably. But when compared with Joash, Amaziah lived up to Joash's example in the first part of his reign, but he also fell away from God just as Joash had during the latter portion of his reign. Amaziah, like Joash, was a rule follower. He followed the letter of God's law but never bothered to go beyond the rules to search out the heart of God. Amaziah was a king who kept his roles compartmentalized. He lived up to the expectations placed on him but never allowed those expectations to take him any further in his personal life. He made the worship of the God of Abraham important, while never bothering to remove the high places where the people were sacrificing to pagan gods. He loved his people, but his commitment to God never made him want what was best for them. He followed the rules but not the heart of God.

Rules are always a great starting place, but we need to seek the heart of God so we can become more like him. And that is something that rules will never do for us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 25