2 Kings 13:19 … “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
Beware of mediocrity.
A new trend in public education is to dumb down curriculum in an attempt to be “fair” to all children. Some schools are ditching admission tests to gifted programs and others are dropping advanced programs altogether. Although well-intentioned, columnist Karol Markowicz writes that “kids will pay a steep price” for being taught that competition and hard work doesn’t pay. Welcome to the world of mediocrity.
It’s not a world where Christians fit.
As believers, we understand the value of whole-heartedness. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind (Matthew 22:37). He calls us to hold nothing back. When we repent, we repent without excuse. When we succeed, we praise him fully for our success. Scripture exhorts us to work diligently, pray fervently and give liberally. There’s nothing mediocre about the Christian life.
Moreover, mediocrity invites disaster.
Israel’s penchant for half-heartedness resulted in an ongoing weakening of their power and status as a country. In the thirteenth chapter of 2 Kings, Israel’s King Jehoahaz finally acknowledged the nation’s sin of compromise and asked God to rescue them from Aram’s oppression. But their repentance of worshipping other gods was incomplete, and it resulted in partial victory (v. 6). Mediocre repentance = mediocre restoration.
After Jehoash succeeded his father as king, that same spirit of mediocrity surfaced. The prophet Elisha instructed Jehoash to take some arrows and strike the ground. After three strikes, Jehoash stopped. His lack of zeal incensed Elisha. If Jehoash didn’t have enough passion to fully carry out his simple command, how could he stir up enough to overcome Aram’s army?
Mediocrity results in a loss of satisfaction as well as victory. The greater our devotion to Christ—no matter what anyone else is doing—the greater our contentment. Scripture exhorts us to strive toward the high calling, not the one in the middle.
So let’s not dumb down our devotion to the Lord. Let’s resist living in a mediocre world. And reflect whole-hearted commitment to God in all we do. It’s a “fair” response to the God who spared nothing on our behalf.