As Long As

The young king followed his father doing what was right and pleasing to the Lord after his father’s death: "And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper” (2 Chronicles 26:5). God caused Uzziah (Azariah) to thrive as long as he sought and obeyed the Lord God’s counsel. But, with his gained power, he became prideful, and his pride led to his downfall when he went into the temple to burn incense, a duty ascribed to the priests only. The king was angry that the priests confronted him, and with a censer in his hand, the eighty-one priests watched as the Lord smote him with leprosy. Following the Law, the priests barred Uzziah from the temple because of his uncleanness, living his remaining years in isolation with his son governing the land. King Uzziah died after reigning fifty-two years, and though he had performed mighty, God-honoring acts for Judah's people, they said of him at his death, “He was a leper” (v. 23). That’s how they remembered him.

As you follow and faithfully serve the Lord God, be careful not to give room for a “but”—any misdeed that can diminish or erase the remembrance of a lifetime of honoring the Lord. Let your faithfulness to God be what others remember of you.