So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
2 Kings 10:28-29 (NIV)

Jim Bakker died this past week. Young people likely don’t know the discredited TV preacher who built a huge personal empire only to watch his marriage, his life, and his empire fall apart as he entered prison. I came of age in the era of televangelists and their very public disgraces. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Robert Tilton, and a host of others leveraged “ministry” to amass giant personal fortunes. The tabloids and news magazines enjoyed pulling back the curtain on their failings and exposing their hypocrisies.

As a young man, the televangelists and their shenanigans became a stark spiritual lesson splashed across the headlines on a constant basis. They repeatedly called me to question what it really means to be a sincere follower of Jesus.

This came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter, which tells the bloody and blunt story of King Jehu of Israel. God, through Elisha, told Jehu to bring judgment on the house of Ahab. Goodness, did he ever. Jehu zealously carried out the task, he secured his own personal empire as the anointed king, and he ensured that his reign would never be threatened by any faithful remnant of Ahab’s house or administration. He then destroyed the worship of Baal which Ahab and Jezebel had long supported.

“However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.“

What a juxtaposition.

Jehu accomplishes something enormous. He eradicates an entire religious institution. He removes a corrupt royal dynasty. He fundamentally alters Israel’s political and religious landscape. “And yet…“

Those two words, “and yet,” hover over his entire reign. He is willing to destroy the idols that threaten his vision of Israel. He is unwilling to destroy the idols that support his vision of himself. Which has me looking at Jehu like one of those televangelists in the news when I was a young man. I find myself sitting in the quiet and wondering how often I do the same thing.

I can be passionate about identifying what’s wrong with the world, the culture, the church, or other people. I can invest tremendous energy in calling out the sins I see around me. I can even sincerely believe I’m doing God’s work in doing so. But what about the idols that quietly serve my own interests?

The need to be right.
The hunger to be admired.
The desire to maintain control.
The security I derive from success.
The satisfaction of putting down someone I believe is wrong.

Jehu’s story invites a question that is much harder than identifying the idols in someone else’s life: What am I unwilling to surrender because it benefits me too much?

I can’t help seeing Jehu through the lens of my recent messages on Pride, Envy, and Sloth. Jehu certainly doesn’t appear slothful in the conventional sense. He’s a man of extraordinary energy and action. But, as I unpacked in my message, the classical understanding of acedia (sloth) is not simply laziness. It involves an avoidance of the deeper demands of spiritual love.

Jehu is willing to do all kinds of dramatic, dangerous, and difficult things.
What he apparently won’t do is surrender his heart completely. And, in the quiet this morning, that resonates deep within me.

Sometimes the hardest act of obedience isn’t the spectacular sacrifice everyone can see. It’s the quiet surrender nobody notices.

Jehu could destroy a temple full of Baal worshipers. “And yet,” he couldn’t bring himself to destroy two golden calves. And perhaps those calves reveal more about his heart than all his spectacular achievements.

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