Garbage Removal

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Several huge battles had been won. Israel was conquering their new homeland. But the time had come for the land to be divided between the 12 tribes. Each parcel of land still had small cities and towns that would have to be destroyed. The individual tribes would be on their own now to fully possess their property. Have all of your gods been destroyed? Does our God fully own your heart? What are you holding back?

Every working day all over the United States, streets are lined with garbage cans filled with our trash.  Junk yards are filled with cars that have been disposed of.  Sinks are built with garbage disposals.  They all serve one purpose:  to rid our lives of the stench and clutter that garbage brings to our lives.  Leaving this trash just laying around our homes is unthinkable.  We seem to have no problem with the routine of removing junk in our lives, and if we miss putting our trash cans out to the street on the right day, we might be caught accomplishing the task in our pajamas the very moment we hear the garbage truck in our neighborhood! I know, because it has happened to me.  Trash is not something we want to live in or with.  We want it removed; it makes life much more pleasant.

Let's relate that now to the story of the Israelites who were entering in to conquer the long-Promised Land.  Many kings in Canaan had been killed and the cities and peoples destroyed as God had commanded them.  But there was still a lot of work to do.  God had a plan for that as well.  As the Promised Land was "sub-divided" each tribe was charged to go into their piece of the land and remove every person.  (These people were worshipers of false gods, and would have had a negative effect on Israel's purity and separation unto their God.)  When they removed the people, they were removing the false gods, idols, and pagan practices which God abhors.  Some of the tribes were obedient to remove all that offended God; but others were lazy.  They did not remove the people and the gods, and there would be a great price to pay, down the road a bit, for their disobedience to God's command.  

You can leave this information in your mind now, thinking on it as a great history lesson.  That is what most would be prone to do.  However, there is great truth to be gleaned from the lives of God's chosen.  We must always introspect after we have learned a principle from the Word.  So, here are just a few questions to ask yourself.  I will be asking myself as well.

What gods (idols, sins, attitudes) have you already destroyed in your life?

What gods still remain, alive and well, operating in you as "your flesh"?

What prevents you from destroying them?

With the stench of sin and the clutter of your "garbage" in your life, what kind of an example of Christ to the lost world are you?

What do you think God thinks of your "junk"?

Are you willing to continue in your disobedience, allowing your "trash" to accumulate in your life?

Looking down the road, what are a few logical consequences if you continue walking in your flesh?

What is your spiritual application today as you consider your "garbage"?

How much more uncluttered would your life be if you surrendered your "trash" to God, and removed it from your life?