Purge the Sweets

but they did not drive them out completely.  Joshua 17:13

I have a real problem with my sweet tooth.  If you leave sweet stuff laying around, I will eat it.  Last year at this time, I found myself at 223 pounds and set a goal of getting down to 200 by the time of Meghan’s wedding.  I really focused on the task at hand by exercising diligently, but more importantly I tracked what I ate and we eliminated the sweets laying around the house.  Not cut down, but eliminated  because once you have some sweets laying around, it starts a slippery slope.  It took a while, but slowly my cravings for sweets went away because they simply weren’t an option for me.  There weren’t any laying around.  Plus I practiced replacement therapy by substituting fruits and vegetables for the high calorie, high fat sweets.  I did not quite make 200, but I got down to just under 210.  It appears I am going to have to go down that path again. 

As Israel comes into the Promised Land, they are reminded over and over again by the Lord that they must purge the Canaanites from the land.  Not partially, but completely.  We know this was fully within their capability because in Joshua 17:17, Joshua reminds them that they have “great power”.   It was not too great of an obstacle that they could not pull it off.  Yet we know from Scripture and history that they did not clear out the Canaanites.  The Canaanites ultimately became a snare to them.  The Israelites never fulfilled the Mosaic covenant and never fully inherited the Promised Land and ultimately were driven out into slavery by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. 

There are many components of sin that have a definite allure.  I am sure that the reason they did not drive the Canaanites out was because of two reasons.  One was there was a certain attraction to the Canaanite forms of god worship.  We know from history that much of it certainly on the surface looked like it was attractive.  Drunken, sexual orgies probably looked pretty fun.  It took them all of 40 days while Moses was on Mount Sinai to “rise up to play” (Exodus 32:6).  The second reason is a false sense of self-confidence.  They believed they could co-exist with this temptation.  The answer is they could not and you cannot.

Temptations like pornography lurk 24/7.  You don’t have to go anywhere, you can get it anytime from the comfort of your own home.  The principle here is you cannot “dabble” in this sin or any sin.  You must eradicate it completely.  If you are dabbling, it is only a matter of time before you are indulging.  The progression is from allure to sin in a heartbeat away (James 1:14).  Dabbling in sin will rob you.  It must be purged completely.

Fortunately, God gives the ability to eradicate sin.  He does not leave you hanging on your own.  He gives you the power.  That is another post for another day.