Canaanite Contamination
The scripture reference for this is rather long, but is really necessary. Read Judges 1:21-2:23.
What God is saying here in His word is that he told the Israelites to get rid of something completely. He wanted this thing, the religion, world view and life style of the Canaanites, out of His land. He wanted the His people to have absolutely nothing to do with it. There was no single part of it that was acceptable to God. So He told His people to remove it from their lives, and have no part of it.
Unfortunately for the children of Israel, they were not totally committed to and totally obedient to God. They removed some of the Canaanite contamination from the land, but let some of it remain. The Israelites had the idea that the Canaanites were not all bad. And, if they made them their slaves and controlled them it would be alright. In other words, they thought they knew better than God. Where as God had said that even having "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Galatians 5:9 KJV) And so it came to pass that the Israelites started adopted the Canaanite world view, life style, and religion. The result of that was the anger of God.
In John 3:3 Jesus says, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." What he is really saying is that you have to completely and totally cast out of your life everything that was in it before accepting Jesus. You have to get rid of your old world view, life style, and the things that you worshiped or gave prominence to. There is no part of any of it that you can compromise on and try to keep in your new life with Christ. You cannot try to fool yourself into thinking that you can control it; make it your slave. For truly, at some point it will control you, and you will be its slave. You will serve that old idea rather than serving God.
What is needed is a complete confidence that God's wisdom and reasons are far superior to ours. We may think that some element of our old life (the kind of clothes we wore, the things we did for fun, the people we hung out with, the music we listened to, the movies and TV we watched) we be of no harm if we control it. We may think that something is not really bad because other "good" people do it. We may say, "Well, I don't see what could possibly be wrong with that." But in doing so we are making the same mistake the Israelites made. We are not being totally committed and obedient to God. And we are thinking that we know better than He. We are relying on our wisdom and strength rather than His. And, really, who is wiser and stronger than God?
One of the keys to a successful Christian life occurs at the beginning of our walk with Christ. It involves completely and totally removing all of the elements of our old life, and starting new. Becoming a "new born", a "new creation." And then relying on God to populate our new life with the elements He chooses for us. Confidently believing that He will provide for all our needs. He will provide us with new friends, new fun, a new world view, new ideas of fashion and music, all the elements of a brand new life. Once we have completely cast off all of the old and given ourselves completely to Him, He can then create us in the likeness of Christ. At that point he will truly be a member of His kingdom with all of its benefits. This is the promise of God. And it is a promise we can count on Him to keep, if we will do what he commands. That begins with expelling our own person Canaanite contamination.
May the grace of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.
What God is saying here in His word is that he told the Israelites to get rid of something completely. He wanted this thing, the religion, world view and life style of the Canaanites, out of His land. He wanted the His people to have absolutely nothing to do with it. There was no single part of it that was acceptable to God. So He told His people to remove it from their lives, and have no part of it.
Unfortunately for the children of Israel, they were not totally committed to and totally obedient to God. They removed some of the Canaanite contamination from the land, but let some of it remain. The Israelites had the idea that the Canaanites were not all bad. And, if they made them their slaves and controlled them it would be alright. In other words, they thought they knew better than God. Where as God had said that even having "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Galatians 5:9 KJV) And so it came to pass that the Israelites started adopted the Canaanite world view, life style, and religion. The result of that was the anger of God.
In John 3:3 Jesus says, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." What he is really saying is that you have to completely and totally cast out of your life everything that was in it before accepting Jesus. You have to get rid of your old world view, life style, and the things that you worshiped or gave prominence to. There is no part of any of it that you can compromise on and try to keep in your new life with Christ. You cannot try to fool yourself into thinking that you can control it; make it your slave. For truly, at some point it will control you, and you will be its slave. You will serve that old idea rather than serving God.
What is needed is a complete confidence that God's wisdom and reasons are far superior to ours. We may think that some element of our old life (the kind of clothes we wore, the things we did for fun, the people we hung out with, the music we listened to, the movies and TV we watched) we be of no harm if we control it. We may think that something is not really bad because other "good" people do it. We may say, "Well, I don't see what could possibly be wrong with that." But in doing so we are making the same mistake the Israelites made. We are not being totally committed and obedient to God. And we are thinking that we know better than He. We are relying on our wisdom and strength rather than His. And, really, who is wiser and stronger than God?
One of the keys to a successful Christian life occurs at the beginning of our walk with Christ. It involves completely and totally removing all of the elements of our old life, and starting new. Becoming a "new born", a "new creation." And then relying on God to populate our new life with the elements He chooses for us. Confidently believing that He will provide for all our needs. He will provide us with new friends, new fun, a new world view, new ideas of fashion and music, all the elements of a brand new life. Once we have completely cast off all of the old and given ourselves completely to Him, He can then create us in the likeness of Christ. At that point he will truly be a member of His kingdom with all of its benefits. This is the promise of God. And it is a promise we can count on Him to keep, if we will do what he commands. That begins with expelling our own person Canaanite contamination.
May the grace of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.
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