Rooting out all temptation

The Old Testament can get pretty bloody sometimes.  And this chapter is no exception. 

God told the Israelites to wipe out the Midianites. 

Why?  Because they were the ones that led the Israelites to sin. 

And when the Israelites spared the women, Moses got angry because it was many of these women in particular that led the Israelite men into idol worship.  So they too were too be killed. 

The only ones spared were the women who had had no part in the sexual religious rituals the Israelites had fallen into.

What can we get from this? 

In order to live a holy life, we must root out all sin from our lives, and the things that would cause us to fall. 

Jesus put it this way,

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.  (Matthew 5:29-30)

Jesus uses extreme language here, and doesn’t literally mean to cut off your hand or gouge your eye out. 

However, the message is crystal clear: sin cannot be tolerated. 

And so if something is causing you to sin, do what you must to get rid of it. 

If videos you’re watching or magazines you’re reading are causing use to sin, toss them out. 

If your boyfriend or girlfriend is causing you to sin, you need to break up with them. 

If the friends you are hanging out with are causing you to sin, it’s time to put distance between you and them.

Too often we hang on to the things that cause us to fall, and then we wonder why we struggle with sin so much. 

God says to let these things go. 

What things in your life are causing you to sin?

As the apostle Paul wrote,

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  (1 Thessalonians 4:7)