“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.’” –Joshua 6:2 (NIV)
It is often hard for believers to comprehend that all their trials and problems with regards to sin in their lives are ultimately answerable to God’s victorious promises. As long as we remain obedient to God and towards His purposes, we will be able to overcome our circumstances by His enabling. Yet somehow we tend to forget this. Either we try to deal with sin on our own strength; the resulting failed attempts to purge ourselves prompting us say to ourselves it is hopeless and continue to live in our sinful habits, or we take advantage of God’s grace. Both are wrong from the point of their attitudes on God’s proper role in the life of the believer. The former denies the active role God plays in redeeming His creation and the power of His redemptive work. The latter simply and ungratefully treats God as an insurance policy and not their Redeemer to whom they are now indebted to serve and respect.
Human attempts to deal with their own sinfulness are halfhearted at best. Like a diet plan, some believe that they are entitled to sin once in a while because they have worked so hard to be holy, just as how a person on a diet feels entitled to an amount of junk food because they have worked so hard to slim down. But that’s not how it should work. Suppose if Joshua did not obey God’s instructions and let a few of the people and livestock of Jericho survive. They would have no doubt grown and reorganized themselves in order to challenge Israel yet again. Likewise we cannot compromise on sin. Even a little leeway here and there can set a person back. When we sin they are not entitlements, but they are moments of shame which we surrender to God so that He may forgive and purify us. It is not of our own devising or planning that we gain victory over sin, but only through constant obedience and surrender to Christ’s redemptive work can we be saved. Divine victory is within our grasp as followers of Christ. We must take it now if we do not want to drown in defeat.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.