Years ago, Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman had a song that used to be played frequently on the radio entitled, "Burn the Ships". The song was birthed from an idea that originated in 1519. In that year, Cortes set sail to Mexico with his crew. Upon arrival, his men became weary and scared, desiring to turn back home to their old life. As legend has it, Cortes had the men burn their ships, leaving no option but to press on. The ships represented a past to which they could not return.
We can't just move sin out of arm's length, because if we only displace it and not destroy it, the next time darkness calls and our cries to the Lord are met with silence, we often default to destructive behaviour that will end in despair. If we think just making sin more difficult to reach is enough, we are gravely mistaken. Sin not destroyed will continue demanding from us. We will never drift into holiness simply by ignoring sin. We must be adamant to put to death every sin or it will slowly be killing us.
Josiah's actions taken to remove all the detestable idols in the entire land was a fulfillment of a prophecy spoken about him before he was even born. In 1 Kings 13:2 a man of God prophesized that Josiah would bring destruction in fulfillment of God's plan. Here it is 300 years later and the young king is fulfilling what was forecast as he clears the temple, demolishing opposition against the Lord.
The writer of this account in 2 Kings 23 gives more detail to Josiah's actions using so many descriptive verbs. It says that he commands, brings out, burns, does away with, grinds to dust, throws, defiles, breaks down, smashes, breaks in pieces, cuts down and demolishes. We need to be just as determined to rid our lives of anything that rises in opposition against the Lord. Turning a blind eye to sin does not remove it. We must be continually slaying sin.
Matthew 18:3-9 tells us that if our hand, foot or eye causes us to sin, cut them off or gouge them out and throw them away. God does not take sin lightly. Although His Word here is expressed in hyperbole, exaggerating to impress a point, these verses should heighten in our hearts the serious nature of sin.
We need to constantly be asking the Lord to show us where we are becoming unaware of the danger of little things we have excused and allowed to slip into our lives. It does not take long before all sensitivity diminishes and we start justifying sin and even redefining it as respectable, accepting actions without any awareness of their impact on our lives and on our abiding in Christ.
I am currently helping my twin sister as she prepares for a renovation project at her home. She and her husband are anticipating having their son and his family residing with them. In order to accommodate four more people in their dwelling space, some decluttering needs to be done to downsize. In the process of accomplishing this, she and I have touched every article in their house. We have opened every cupboard, removed all objects on every shelf, emptied every drawer and weeded out every closet. There is nothing that hasn't been held in our hands for consideration of removal.
This is how serious we need to be about sin. We cannot allow any sin to escape scrutiny. We need to weigh each activity and attitude in our hands. We must ask the Lord to search our hearts and reveal to us anything that rises in opposition to Him. It must be removed and all the ships burned, leaving no option but to press on in the strength of the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment