The story of Achan in Joshua 7 is unintelligible when viewed from within our individualistic culture. The idea that the misdeed of one person could bring the discipline of God down on the whole community only makes sense if we think of ourselves as an inextricable part of a whole. Paul uses the illustration of a body to describe the church community in 1 Corinthians 12. What happens to one part of the body affects the whole. Each of us has a responsibility to our community and what we do always affects the whole community. But if the misdeed of one can affect the whole for the worse, how much more will a good deed affect the whole for the better? When you choose to love another person, when you choose to pray and seek God, when you choose to step out in faith in some way, all these actions are instrumental in allowing the whole church to move forward. What you do in secret, for better or for worse, will have an effect that will be felt out in the church community. There is a spiritual kinship between human beings that make this so. The consequences of our actions, however private they may be, are immense. Such is the nature of human responsibility. The spiritual connection we have with one another was created to be a channel of blessing, but if corruption gets in it can become a channel for corruption. Become a vessel through which blessing spreads.
Confess your sins to God. Receive forgiveness. Pray for your church community.
Read Joshua 7
