1 Kings 15:9-12 (ESV)
Asa Reigns in Judah
In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
The books of 1 and 2 Kings is about the king’s of Israel and Judah. It records whether they are good kings or evil kings. All the references to the king’s of Israel are declared by the writer as evil kings. The kings of Judah are described as either evil or, as in the above, as a king that did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Asa was that type of king. Most kings that came unto the scene in Judah therefore either followed an evil king, or a good one. In this case, Asa followed an evil king and needed to do some spiritual house cleaning. In the above passage King Asa put away the male prostitutes that were established earlier. Often in leadership there is a cleaning up process. Often in our Christian lives, as we come to Christ, there is a cleaning up process. Notice how Paul stated it here:
Colossians 3:9-10 (ESV)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
In the Christian life, as in the Old Testament kings, there is a putting off of the old and sinful and a putting on of the new and holy. This is all done by faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. The above story gives us an example of that truth in the leadership of a king.
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