July 6

And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves. — 1 Kgs 12:30 BSB

The king’s plan worked. The people did not return to the temple in Jerusalem but instead bowed before the golden calves. This completed the separation. Worse still, the king’s leadership led the ten tribes further away from God.

The Bible records twenty times that "Jeroboam made Israel sin." Jeroboam’s name is forever associated with leading others into sin throughout history.

Sin grows from small beginnings until it reaches giant proportions. The person who introduces an error has no idea how much destruction will result. Teaching just one child wrongly could ruin countless lives. Those who start new ventures set in motion streams of influence, good or bad, which can continue forever. Jeroboam shaped the character of his new kingdom, and all nineteen kings who followed him continued in his wicked ways.

There’s a story of an abbot who wanted a piece of land. The owner agreed to lease it to the abbot for one crop only. The abbot sowed acorns, a crop that takes 300 years to ripen. In the same way, Jeroboam’s single act of sin brought trouble to his kingdom for its entire history. Satan asks for just one crop, but he sows seeds whose harvest will affect a life until its end. We have no idea the full impact of starting something wrong.