One Man's Sin

One Man's Sin - Oucher No. #2

Get up, sanctify the people, and say, "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because says the Lord God of Israel: 'There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take way the accursed thing from among you.'" Joshua 7:13

This is one of those devotionals that snaps us from the mundane to the reality of life. It is one of those "wake up, you dunderhead" reminders that all of need to keep posted in the forefront of our minds. Listen to the powerful reminder from Dr. Henry Blackaby's daily devotional, EXPERIENCING GOD - THE DEVOTIONAL (Broadman and Holman):

Just as the obedience of ONE Christian can bring blessing to others, the sin of ONE Christian can bring harm to many others. The children of Israel were rapidly advancing into the Promised Land. They had experienced a miraculous victory over the city of Jericho, and they were continuing toward their next conquest.

To their surprise they met a decisive defeat as they attempted to capture the small town of Ai. They sought God's explanation for their failure, and He provided it. He revealed that someone among them had disobeyed His clear command not to keep any possessions from Jericho. The disobedience of one man and his family had paralyzed an entire nation!

Achan though he could conceal his sin and it would not affect anyone else. God chose to demonstrate the destructive power of one sin to His people. One act of disobedience cost Achan and his family their lives. It caused his countrymen to lose the battle; innocent soldiers were killed. His sin had serious repercussions for others, denying them the blessing, power, and victory of God.

Your sin will have an impact on others. Choosing to disobey God may cost your family God's blessing. The power of God may be absent from your church because you are living in disobedience. Your friends may suffer because you are not living righteously.

Diligently seek to obey every word from God, for you do not know how YOUR disobedience could affect those around you. Scripture promises that if you will obey the Lord, your life will be a channel of blessing to others. (Psalm 37:25-26)

I needed to be reminded of this principle this morning. How about you? We are in this thing together, guys. Let's purpose as Freedom Fighters to obey Him in every area of our life. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 17; Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5

Think about this: We stay busy at work, while people around us are ripe and ready to be harvested; we do not reap even one of them, but simply waste our Lord's time in over-energized activities and programs. -- Oswald Chambers