Pretty much obedient

Often we think that we're doing enough. We go to church. We say our prayers. We read our Bible. We put money in the offering.

Sure, sins pop up in our lives, but we're not as bad as that other guy. We haven't robbed a bank or killed anyone.

Compared to others, we look pretty good. God will surely weigh out the good and the bad and we should come out pretty well.

After all, we've been pretty much obedient.

The first two chapters of Judges introduce and summarize the entire book and show that that was Israel's understanding, too.

They were pretty much obedient.

The first chapter is an account of victory and defeat. The LORD was with them and they defeated inhabitants. But they didn't defeat them all. They didn't drive out all the people.

They were pretty much obedient.

I'm sure they had good excuses.

"They've got iron chariots. We can't defeat them" (v 19).

"We don't really like the city anyway. We'll just stay in the country and let them have the city" (v 21).

"We really could use some slaves. We'll let them live, but put them to forced labor. We deserve a break" (v 28).

"You know, it's not quite so bad to live in this part of the land. They can have the valleys. We'll take the hills. It's pretty up here anyway" (v 34).

The problem was that Israel was pretty much obedient. Not completely obedient.

These peoples led the Israelites away from God. They enticed them to worship their gods. And that led to repeated defeats through the book of Judges - and the rest of the Old Testament.

We're just as bad. We're pretty much obedient, too. Rather than defeating the temptations in our lives, we let them dwell with us. We make excuses. We wish they were gone, but we don't really fight them.

A cycle of defeat throughout the rest of our lives.

Paul calls us to action to fight against those temptations in Romans 6. It's a battle in which we have to engage ourselves. Yielding ourselves to obedience and not to sin.

How's your battle going?