The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”
“What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”
2 Kings 9:18 (NIV)

The past three weeks I kicked off a series of messages among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. The series is on what is traditionally known as The Seven Deadly Sins. This past Sunday, I unpacked the sin of Sloth.

Here’s the interesting thing I discovered and shared about sloth. We typically picture sloth as couch, remote, bag of Cheetos, and Netflix asking “Are you still watching?”

But as I began to understand the insidious nature of sloth, I began to understand that sloth can look quite ambitious! A slothful person can have a packed calendar. I can answer fifty emails because I don’t want to have one difficult conversation. I can obsess over my career because I don’t want to deal with my marriage. I can consume endless news, sports, podcasts, entertainment and social media because I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.

And—it can be particularly dangerous in church— I can do a tremendous amount for God because I don’t really want to be with God. Busyness and faithfulness are not synonyms. Sometimes, sloth runs a marathon so it doesn’t have to sit quietly with God.

Today’s chapter provides a great example.

Back in 1 Kings when Ahab and Jezebel stole Nabaoth’s vineyard, the prophet Elijah pronounced judgment on them and their household. In today’s chapter, years later, that judgment is finally fulfilled. Elisha has Jehu, son of Zimri, anointed king of Israel. Jehu is instructed to destroy Jezebel and the house of Ahab.

But here’s what’s interesting about Jehu. He wasn’t necessarily committed to the Lord. In fact, the prophet Hosea will pronounce judgment on the house of Jehu. Tomorrow’s chapter will reveal that Jehu wasn’t completely committed to the Lord or His ways.

Which brings me back to what my meditations on sloth revealed to me. Busyness — even doing God’s work — can come from very different heart motivations. Jehu was absolutely convinced that he was doing God’s work. And, in a very real sense, he was. But doing God’s work is not necessarily the same thing as having God’s heart. That’s a sobering distinction.

Jehu was commissioned. He was courageous. He was decisive. He confronted entrenched corruption. He accomplished something that had been foretold years before. Yet the larger narrative ultimately exposes his divided loyalty. I wonder how easy it is for me to fall into a similar trap.

I become so consumed with accomplishing what I believe God wants me to accomplish that I stop examining where my heart is in the midst of it. I become zealous for truth and lose my tender sensitivity toward God’s Spirit.
I become passionate about justice and begin enjoying the destruction of my enemies. We become committed to a righteous cause and start believing that the righteousness of the cause automatically makes every action I take righteous. I begin to confuse being useful to God with being intimate with God.

And what can be most dangerous is when the apparent success of what I do convinces me that God must approve of everything I’m doing. Along my life journey, I’ve observed this to be a trap for pastors, business leaders, parents, activists, and anyone who feels called to make a difference.

Jehu’s story raises the question of whether a good appetite—zeal for righteousness—can become distorted by vainglory, ambition, or a desire for power. A person can pursue something genuinely good while allowing something deeply unhealthy to take root in the pursuit. Sometimes, the more successful I become, the harder that distortion is to recognize.

When Jehu arrives at Jezreel, Joram asks whether he comes in peace.
Jehu’s answer is essentially, “How can there be peace when everything is so wrong?” It’s a legitimate question. But there’s another question that the rest of Jehu’s story asks of me: “Can I be so consumed with correcting what’s wrong around me that I fail to recognize what’s wrong within me?”

That’s where this chapter stops being an ancient account of a bloody coup and becomes a mirror. The great danger isn’t merely that I might pursue the wrong things. It’s that I might pursue the right things with the wrong heart. Perhaps the most important question isn’t simply, “Am I doing what God wants?”
but “Am I becoming who God wants me to be as I do it?”

In the quiet this morning, I find that’s a question worth carrying into my weekend. Jehu’s wild chariot ride might be a great metaphor for our modern culture of righteous outrage, in which everybody is certain they’re on the right side as they rant, rage, and run around acting with righteous indignation. Yet, I don’t observe many people examining their own hearts.

I think maybe I should make sure I’m examining mine.

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