Before the people of Israel conquered the land, God gave them a piece of advice: “Destroy everything in the land.” In other words, burn ALL the idols, kill ALL the people and animals. Don’t leave anything pagan in the land I’m giving to you. But they failed to listen. They left certain groups of people and their shrines in the land. Over time, the pagan practices seeped into Israel, until God’s people were bowing to false gods and doing despicable acts to these idols. Sin destroyed what was good. And it was a never-ending cycle for them.
Paul addresses the same thing to the church at Corinth. It seems there was a man in their congregation who was engaging in sinful acts… sleeping with his mother-in-law. But the church allowed it. Perhaps he was a huge financial supporter or a founding pillar of the church. Or maybe he threatened them and they were afraid. Either way, he was openly sinning and the leadership looked the other way, sweeping his sin under the rug. So, Paul sends a letter to them saying, “Listen, don’t you realize that a little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough?” Hence, if you don’t deal with this now, eventually it will affect everything good going on. It will seep into your marriages, worship, the Kingdom work, the younger generation, etc. Over time, you will become immune to it so you don’t recognize the sin anymore.
I don’t think we realize the terrible implications a little sin will do if we don’t get rid of it. Sin destroys families, relationships, ministries, churches. Sin, left alone, will eventually spread until everything good has been corrupted. Therefore, if we allow gossip to continue, anger to prevail, foul language to enter our homes, lying to linger, unforgiveness to progress, then we are heading for a downfall. And the worse thing is that eventually we become immune to sin… Oh, I’m just used to it. Well, that is not the correct response. Sin is VERY destructive. We need to nip it in the bud immediately… cleansing our hearts, our homes, our churches, our ministries, our marriages. Sweeping sin under the rug is the same as slapping God in the face. It’s saying to Him… I just don’t care.
If we want the good things in our life to get better, then we need to recognize the sin threatening to destroy it and get rid of it… permanently. If you’ve noticed some of the good things in your life not so good anymore, then maybe you need to ask the Lord if there is a sin that has crept in… a sin that needs to be dealt with. Let these words be a light to you today.