There’s a sad and terrible episode recorded in Joshua chapter 7. A man named Achan took and hid in his tent something expressly forbidden by the Lord. He paid for it with his life and the life of his family.
I do not want to hide forbidden things in my heart. Sinful thoughts. Unloving attitudes. Not because I fear the judgment of the Lord, (I am totally confident that Christ bore my judgment on His body, and I am now and forever fully in the favor of God) but because it is a contaminate. It is a poison. It is an infectious disease that depletes my joy in the Lord and weakens my love for others. Call it a “sinfection,” if you will.
I am thankful to the Lord for the blessed and faithful diagnosis of the Holy Spirit, who gives us early detection of these forbidden things. I have had two such things pointed out to me this week. One had to do with judging others and the other with pride/vainglory. Small and undetectable to others. Seemingly harmless to me because it had not turned into any action, nor did it seem to have a significant influence on my attitude. But it was there. So, I talked it over with the Lord, the way I would talk a medical situation over with my doctor. Unlike with Achan, there was no penalty for my disclosure. I feared no judgment. There was no shame. We talked in an atmosphere of mercy and grace – just as advertised in Hebrews 4:14-16. It was no big deal, and yet it was. The Lord didn’t give me a three-hour lesson about the sinfection. Instead, He reassured me that coming to Him early and airing it out is always the right treatment for it.
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