The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. 2 Kings 14:4

Every job has various parts to it to get it completed correctly. It is very easy for people to skip parts of the job in order to be done faster. However, the job is not fully completed when steps are skipped or ignored.

On the surface the job may appear to be completed, but underneath there are problems that will arise later because it was never completely finished correctly. Anything left partially undone will create challenges or problems later.

When Amaziah became king of Judah he worked at doing what was right in God’s eyes. However, he did not remove the high places and the people continued to offer sacrifices on those places.

People in churches will often claim to begin to serve and follow God. They will begin by turning away from some of their sins. On the outside it looks as if they are fully following God and serving Him alone. They go to church, pray and worship in public and say all the right words.

On the inside of their hearts and homes, however, some believers will continue to follow idols and sinful practices. They harbor bitterness, resentment, hatred, jealousy and other sins. The high places in their life are not torn down and they continue to offer sacrifices on those places. Doing these things will cause them to pull away from God in the end and follow a life of sin.

Believers are to repent and turn away from all sin. God is the only one whom they are to bow down to and offer sacrifices to. They are to become a new creation and not hold on to the past things and ways of this fallen world.

Prior to you becoming a believer, you had high places in your life in which you sacrificed everything to the gods of this world. Now, as a believer, those high places need to be torn down and removed from your life. The things of this world have nothing to offer you, do not give them your life.

Allow God to change you and make you into a new creation. Worship and serve God alone and finish the job by removing the high altars of sin and death in your life. Don’t allow high altars to control you anymore.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that God will reveal any high places of sin in your life; that God will give you strength to remove any high places in your life; and that you will be a new creation in Christ Jesus.