Joshua 1,2,3

1:5 "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you."

God charges Joshua with leading Israel into the promised land.

I read this passage as Joshua prepares to conquer Canaan and wondered how this could apply to me. There are some that question God's goodness to lead such a total and all-inclusive assault on a geographic location, but that ignores God's plan and the wretchedness of the inhabitants. Still, that isn't a direct application to me, since God didn't promise to my ancestors that I would own 57th street in Tacoma, and it isn't inhabited with Philistines (not completely, anyway).

Then I realized that I have been given a charge to clear out a land infested with evil that God has promised for me to find peace in. Furthermore, my conquest is to be ruthless and complete, underwritten and strengthened by God Himself. The land is my soul and the evil is my flesh. I see in the manner with which Joshua approached the land west of the Jordan a model for how we should look at our own righteousness. He was to have confidence based on the Lord's presence (1:5), to be "strong and courageous" (1:6), and to undertake the mission with obedience to God's word (1:7). This charge was not optional, but was the will of the Lord his God (1:9)!

Paul's image of the armor of God in Ephesians shows that this analogy of an all-out war is appropriate. We should have the mentality that this is a dramatic battle of good vs. evil and that there is no room for diplomacy or negotiation. So do we ever negotiate with our sin? Do we ever enter battle against sin in our lives, and come out having not wiped it out completely? The Israelites failed in this regard and remnants of a wicked population became a cancer in their community leading them astray. Is it not so with sin left unchecked in our lives?

We will never enter the "Promised Land" of a soul free from the presence of sin until we are taken home to the Lord, but we can faithfully continue the task of decimating sin and getting closer and closer to Christ-likeness. But we first need to take the mission as seriously as Joshua.

Lord, help me to be a Joshua. Help me to wipe out sin in my life. Help me to be brave, ruthless, and wholly dependant on You.