Rebuilding evil in our lives

I’ve probably read this story dozens of times, but this time, it’s the last part that strikes me.  After all of Jericho was destroyed, Joshua pronounced a curse saying,

“Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

“At the cost of his firstborn son
will he lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates.”  (Joshua 6:26)

And as it happened, that’s exactly what happened to the man who tried to rebuild it. (I Kings 16:34)

Why did Joshua pronounce this curse?  Perhaps because of what Jericho represented.  It was filled with evil people that were involved in things like prostitution, child sacrifice, no less worship of false gods.

One of the reasons that God sent the Israelites to take over the Promised Land was to get rid of all this evil.  And so Joshua basically said, “May this evil never rise again, and cursed is the person that tries to raise it up.”

What about us?  Do we rebuild evil in our lives?  The Bible says that when we become Christians, our old self, our old way of life was crucified so that we should no longer be slaves to sin.  (Romans 6:6)

But when we deliberately choose to sin, it’s as though we’re raising that part of us back to life again.  And when we do that, sin can destroy us.  It won’t destroy our soul.  God has already saved us from that.

But it can destroy our lives here on earth.  It can wreck our marriages, it can wreck our relationships, it can wreck our reputations, it can wreck everything we hold dear.  And in that way, we can truly say that cursed is the person that tries to raise up that sinful nature again.

And so Paul writes,

Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.  (Romans 6:11-14)

How about you?  Do you rebuild sin in your life?  Or do you keep it dead and buried, living for Christ instead?