pet sins, on a leash

Joshua 13: 8 Half the tribe of Manasseh and the tribes of Reuben and Gad had already received their grants of land on the east side of the Jordan, for Moses, the servant of the LORD, had previously assigned this land to them.9 Their territory extended from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge (including the town in the middle of the gorge) to the plain beyond Medeba, as far as Dibon.10 It also included all the towns of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had reigned in Heshbon, and extended as far as the borders of Ammon.11 It included Gilead, the territory of the kingdoms of Geshur and Maacah, all of Mount Hermon, all of Bashan as far as Salecah,12 and all the territory of King Og of Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. King Og was the last of the Rephaites, for Moses had attacked them and driven them out.13 But the Israelites failed to drive out the people of Geshur and Maacah, so they continue to live among the Israelites to this day.

One of the problems the Israelite had was that they never fully conquered Cannan, in that they never fully destroyed all the residents living there when they arrived. This foreign culture & religion was like a cancer amongst the Jews, which you can read about in Judges (which follows Joshua in the Old Testament)

We're like the Jews back then. We may give our hearts & lives to God, but we keep our "pet sins" on a leash (or so we think), indulging in them, thinking they can't harm us or our relationship with our Abba Father.

Wrong

Allowing sin(s) to continue & be enjoyed would be like letting an infection to continue without an antibiotic. One day it will overwhelm our immune systems & kill us.
So?

We need to continually hold our lives up to the bright light of our Abba Father's inspection. God's not trying to destroy us by getting us to surrender & eliminate the sin in our life. He's just trying to return us to that exquisitely beautiful person He dreamed us to be long before we were born, let alone before we polluted our lives with sins.

Think about it...

I love you