But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel.

    Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
    Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
    The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”
    So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
    So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.—Joshua 7:1–26 

Beauty Seen on a Dark Background

In early June, I had the privilege to help lead a cabin of Jr. High young men at Camp Shetek. We played games throughout the week based on Marvel’s Avengers. During our cabin discussion at night before bed, we aimed to lift our eyes from those superheroes to the super hero Jesus Christ. It was not until I was preparing for this sermon that I realized we accomplished that goal in a way I would not have imagined.

Late one night, several of us went out behind our cabin. In the darkness of the prairie fields that surrounded us, we looked up at the stars. Guys were pointing, finding constellations, and calling out names. There was also a bit of debating about which one was which.

We did not have a discussion like this during the day. On a beautiful June day, the only things we saw when we looked up were the sun and a few occasional clouds, but at night it was an entirely different picture. Outside on that dark night, we were getting excited about Jesus’ handiwork. We were marveling at the Maker. 

By him [Jesus] all things were created in heaven and earth visible and invisible.—Colossians 1:16

In one of the greatest understatements of the creation account, we read that “God [through Jesus] made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—[get ready, here it comes] and the stars” (Genesis 1:16).

“And the stars.” Are you kidding me? Each star is like our sun: big and burning. Astronomers estimate that at night, between 2,500 and 5,000 stars are visible to us from earth. But get this: they also estimate the total number of stars that exist at 70 trillion billion.  

Why do I say this? Our passage today is heavy and weighty. It involves judgment. In fact, we did not read the final verses from the front so that if you are parents of sensitive children, you will have time to review these verses to see if they will be helpful for your young ones.

I believe that, like that the dark night far from the city, this passage with its weighty realities can be used as a dark backdrop to look at Jesus. It can amplify his warnings and his invitation to mercy, and it can help us marvel at his amazing work on the cross. Let’s pray and ask the Spirit of God illumine our minds and bring about the profit he promises from the Scriptures he wrote for us (2 Timothy 3:16). Please pray with me. 

The Backstory

To fully appreciate this text, we need to set things up a bit. This is the seventh chapter of Joshua, and as you can imagine, much has already happened in the first six chapters.

In chapter 1, Joshua is installed as the leader of the people of Israel after the death of Moses. The Lord says, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). The Lord also tells Joshua that his very words are a key to wise action. Joshua is told to be “careful to do according to all that Moses my servant commanded you” (Joshua 1:7). He was to meditate on these words day and night so that he [Joshua] “may be careful to do according to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8).

The next several chapters show Joshua leading the people according to God’s word. In an utterly astounding fashion, he stops the flow of the Jordan at flood stage, and the entire nation crosses on dry ground. And in precise obedience to one of the craziest military strategies, the fortified city of Jericho’s defenses fall down flat as a pancake. Only one woman and her family are saved from that conquest. This woman, the prostitute (3) Rahab, heard of the fame of the Lord God (Joshua 2:1–10). She knew that “he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). She took action based on that—but you can read these amazing accounts on your own.

Chapter six ends with these words: “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land” (Joshua 6:27).

The Surprise Opening (v. 1)

So Joshua 7:1 most likely came as much of a surprise to the first readers of Joshua as it did to you when it was read today.

Verse one also contains some key elements that we need to understand so that we can fully appreciate the rest of the story. We need to understand what it meant that “the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things” (v. 1).

Let’s back up beyond Joshua to the book of Genesis. The people of Israel were God’s chosen people. In the midst of a sin-riddled world, our God of plentiful redemption chose a spiritually deceived man named Abram. Abram was a worshiper of idols (false gods) for more than seventy years of his life, but God poured out his merciful grace and blessing on Abram so that his children might pave the way so that every ethnicity could be blessed by one special offspring: Jesus Christ.

God didn’t just promise Abram that offspring—he promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan. We need to consider that for a moment. Canaan is a land where other people lived. And by God’s command and for God’s purposes, Israel was supposed to completely destroy everyone and everything in those lands.

At first glance, this seems wrong. There are people around you in your neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools who stumble over this. In fact, you yourself may take great offense at that. How could a God like that be good?

I bring this up for two reasons. First, I want to be honest with you. I do not want to sugarcoat hard things in the Bible. I do not want to sidestep hard things and set you up to have your feet knocked out from under you when someone else brings it up.

I want to invite dialogue. I would hate for anyone that I know and love to be rattled by big questions about God. I would hate for them to reject him because they believed there were no answers. If you are plagued by big questions about God, please seek answers. Please seek the truth. Please come to your leaders and elders and pastors and talk with us. 

Let me try to begin to give you an answer. God made a comment to Abram (who was later called Abraham) some 500 years before the time of Joshua that sheds light on this troubling question. God told Abram that the “iniquity of the Amonites,” who were part of the people of Canaan, was “not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16). 

What he meant was that the nations of Canaan were a wicked and rebellious people—just like the people of America, including us. The Canaanites suppressed the truth of God in their unrighteousness. They were “storing up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath” (Romans 2:5). They worshiped idols, celebrated sexual immorality, and burned their children in the fire. When God gave Israel the land of Canaan, he was also using Israel as a unique tool to carry out his judgment on a rebellious people.

Other nations later in Israel’s history would be used by God to carry out his judgment on the Israelites. The bottom line, which our passage also speaks to, is that our God is a just God. He does not trifle with sin. He is merciful, yet his mercy has limits, and because he is just, his wrath will be poured out on every sin that is ever committed.

As God was preparing his people to carry out his judgment on the land of Canaan, he gave them many instructions so that they would carry out his mission according to his rules. This passage helps explain what we will look at today:

When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you [then he lists them] . . . and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction.—Deuteronomy 7:1–2 

God goes on to give instruction in this very hard thing. At the very end, he speaks words that Achan did not heed:

The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.—Deuteronomy 7:25–26

Later Joshua would repeat these things and directly apply this to the battle in Jericho.

But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.—Joshua 6:18–19

If the people of Israel did not follow God’s command to guard their hearts and to avoid taking the things that he set aside for destruction, then they would become marked for destruction. That is why we read Joshua 7:1 and see that the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. If you glance down to Joshua 7:26, you will see the Lord turning from his burning anger. That is really the theme of this passage.

The Shocking Defeat (vv. 2–5)

That phrase hangs over this passage like a dark cloud. And for the first readers, it would be as if the tension was building and music was playing in the background warning that something scary was about to happen.

Joshua again sent out spies. He was unaware that anything was wrong. He decided to only send 3,000 men to “toil up there” (v. 3). I wonder if the original readers’ hearts were pumping and if they were thinking, “This is going to be bad. It is hard up there. They are few, but God is against you.”

The 3,000 went up, and the text says, “They fled before the men of Ai, the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim—and struck them at the descent” (vv. 4–5).

After that verse, even more questions may be stirring in your mind. Is God fair? Is he overreacting? One sin leads to 36 lives lost? Those are very good questions because they reveal something about us and our view of God. The reality is not that God is taking Achan’s sin too seriously; it is that we do not take sin seriously enough. 

I was helped by a blog post on Desiring God as I wrestled with this question. The post pointed me to Romans 2:5.

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.—Romans 2:5

God’s justice is in perfect alignment with his righteousness. Every activity of God’s judgment comingles perfectly with his righteousness.

The omniscient narrator sums up Israel’s reaction to the defeat in one powerful sentence: “And the hearts of the people melted and became as water” (v. 5). I was at a restaurant this past week, and at our table an entire twenty-ounce cup of red beverage spilled. That is what happened to the hearts and courage of the people of Israel. 

The words “the hearts of the people melted” are a flashback to earlier places in Joshua (Joshua 2:11; 5:1). There the enemies of Israel trembled at the might of the Lord. Now the people of God experience the same trembling as they realize they are now the enemy of God. And Joshua is greatly perplexed.

Despair and Inquiry Before the LORD (vv. 6–9)

Before I begin these verses, I need to confess that I was judgmental when I was studying this. I questioned Joshua—was he not there in Deuteronomy when Moses told the people this would happen? Did he not remember his own words? I was more like one of Job’s accusing friends than like Jonathan who strengthened David’s heart in the Lord. We are a church surrounded by people who are hurting. May the Lord give us grace to be patient, wisdom to give good advice, and the ability to encourage the believers around us in grace that we observe. 

Please look at Joshua with me and note the many evidences of grace. Too often, we give God’s praise to people in the Old Testament. Joshua puts the work of the Spirit of Jesus on display. Note his reaction: he went into mourning. Our passage says that “Joshua tore his clothes” and “fell on his face” (v. 6). Later it says that he and the elders “put dust on their heads” (v. 6). 

Next, notice where they went: “before the ark of the LORD” (v. 6). They went into God’s very presence, like believers today do when they spend significant hours in prayer. As Joshua poured his heart out before the Lord, he brought his questions to the Lord, saying, “What can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies?” (v. 8). This is so confusing to him because the Lord had said, “I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you” (Exodus 23:27).

The record of Joshua’s petition closes with startling words reminiscent of Moses: “And what will you do for your great name?” (v. 9). If God were to forsake his people now, what would Yahweh’s reputation be? People would call him a one-hit wonder. Capricious and moody. Stronger than some gods—but only some. 

In the midst of despair, Joshua received grace from the Lord to care about the most important thing of all: Yahweh’s fame. We need to take great care here. Remember that this is a passage displaying the righteous judgment of God when what is rightfully his is stolen. What is more rightfully his than his glory? And yet how prone is my heart to steal that?

Revelation of Rebellion (vv. 10–15) 

The Lord has not forsaken his people. Verse 10 begins with the words, “The LORD said.” He goes on to in verse 10–12 to highlight the serious nature of sin and its consequences. The next verse is a rapid-fire list of violations. Take notice of the six verbs: “Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings” (v. 11). Each of these builds to the dire result in verse 12, where the Lord says, “I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.” 

We need to realize the magnitude of this consequence. Let me—like a jazz musician—riff an instrumental solo on the critical importance of God with us. This is not something to trivialize or ignore. Psalm 23 speaks of Yahweh God as our shepherd. To our great benefit, Jesus, who is God in the flesh, puts on the Good-Shepherd nametag when he says, “I AM (YHWH) the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

Psalm 23:4 says, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” Even in the hardest, most challenging situations where fearful things are abounding and just around the corner, David says he will not fear. Why? He says, “For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). For believers, Jesus carries a rod—a big stick that will demolish anything that he does not want to come near us. He also corrects our missteps with his staff. Those truths bring comfort to his sheep.

Consider for a moment what the hardest thing in your life would be like without Jesus’ nearness. Imagine no one greater than yourself watching over you. No sovereign hand of protection sifting out what will be good for you in the end from what will just crush you. No correction, no one leading you back when you stray. You are alone in a world of hurt—disillusioned and freaking out about the future. You are your only hope. I can still see the eyes of a man who was going through tremendous hard times when he told me with passion, “I do not know how people do this [hard things] without Jesus.” 

Do you realize you are a sheep in need of a shepherd? Is Jesus your shepherd, or are you looking to yourself or others far less sufficient? Look to Jesus. This amazing reality is—believe it or not—only a fringe benefit. Further in the text, we will see the greatest blessing: how he deals with our sin and gives us his righteousness.

Those of you who claim that Jesus is your shepherd, are you teetering on the verge of sin? Or have you plunged in? Do you realize you are trading away the vitality of your communion with him, pulling away from his shepherding, and risking your very spiritual life? Willful disobedience is significant. If that is you, I plead with you to return to the Good Shepherd in confession and repentance.

The Lord continues his revelation to Joshua with a second command to “Get up” (v. 13). Now Joshua is instructed to tell the people, “Consecrate yourselves . . . [for] in the morning you shall be brought near” (vv. 13–14). It is important to understand what the terms here mean. Brought near to what? “Brought near” means being brought into close proximity to God. It means to be divided, to be judged, or to encounter God. Though there are clues in the Old Testament as to what consecrating oneself means, we do not know the explicit instructions the people followed to get ready to meet God. But we can think of it as personal and or communal preparation to meet with him. Why is this significant? I believe this is a picture of the current spiritual season that all of humanity is in right now.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus preaches his first sermon and inaugurates or kicks off this season of preparation. He chooses a text from the book of Isaiah 61. He begins by saying, 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

 because he has anointed me

 to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.—Luke 4:18–19

The original audience would have picked up on that last sentence. Why? Well, Jesus inserted a period where Isaiah had a comma. Isaiah 61:2 goes on to say, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” But Jesus is saying now is the “year of the Lord’s favor.” We are not yet ready for “the day of vengeance of our God.” While that is coming, we are now in the season of favor. 

So let’s look a bit more carefully at the year of favor. Jesus is proclaiming good news to the spiritually poor and needy. He tells them to “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). To those oppressed by sin, he came to proclaim freedom.  This is why Titus refers to Jesus as the one “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness” (Titus 2:14). Redemption is a term related to being freed from slavery. If you are bound today, come to Jesus! 

He goes on to speak about healing for the spiritually blind. We need to take special note of this—just because we are in the church does not mean we have eyes to see as we should spiritually. Any people who hang around the church long enough can check the box and agree with the truth that they are sinners.

Yet those who truly see their sin are like those who wear down a path in the pavement between their house and the doctor’s office. Jesus said he came to call those who have an ongoing, repetitive need for a physician (Mark 2:17).

Have you seen your need for Jesus’s covering of your sin yet this morning? How about this weekend? I encourage all of us to make Psalm 139:23–24 our regular prayer: 

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!—Psalm 139:23–24

Jesus is the pathway to consecration, which is about being ready to meet God. Are you looking to him? There is a day of vengeance coming. On the last page of the Bible, Jesus says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Are you ready to be brought near?

Full Disclosure: Achan’s Confession (vv. 12–21).

The text continues on with the Lord moving step by step from the entire nation down to one man, revealing the one person who had done an outrageous thing in Israel. Look carefully at Achan’s confession in the middle of verse 20. God has something startling for us there:

and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.—Joshua 7:20–21

I believe what the Lord wants us to see is that this confession is also our confession of sin before a perfect and righteous God. I say that because Achan’s words mirror Eve’s actions in the garden when she ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6). The similarities—especially in the original language—are staggering.

Genesis 3:6 says, “So when the woman saw,” and Achan confessed “when I saw.” Genesis 3:6 says that “the tree was good for food.” This word for good (or pleasing) is the same word that Achan used to describe the beautiful cloak. Genesis 3:6 goes on to say that “it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” Achan again used the same word for desired when he said, “then I coveted.” Finally, we read that Eve took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Achan said the same thing: “I took them.”

This is not the only place in the Old Testament where this pattern occurs. The same language is used in when David sees Bathsheba’s beauty and takes (2 Samuel 11). Why the pattern? I believe Romans 5:19 gives the answer.

By Adam’s disobedience the many were made sinners.—Romans 5:19 

The act of defiance in the garden was a spiritual earthquake of the greatest magnitude—so great it would be unable to be measured on the Richter scale. The aftershocks from that quake can be seen in every human heart and life from that time on—including you and me. Therefore in a very real sense every one of us will be compelled to give a similar confession of treason to a God who must repay all injustice. I invite you to study this pattern and meditate on these things. The Lord has shown me not only specific instances of this in my life but also that this reality is the pattern of my sinful heart.

Tragic Consequences (vv. 22–26)

This historical account ends in tragedy. Messengers run to uncover the stolen treasure that has just been confessed. Read Joshua 7:23–25 with me:

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.—Joshua 7:23–25

As we grapple with the magnitude of these consequences, I believe it begins to give us the pieces to grapple with eternal judgment. This one sin had awful consequences and came at great cost. Sin is serious and has massive repercussions.

The text ends with these words: “And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor” (v. 26).

As we close, we must know that this is not God’s final word on the Valley of Achor. In the book of the prophet Hosea, the Lord reminds Israel—who in this book is said to be a wife who has left him for other lovers—that he will run after her and welcome her.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

 and bring her into the wilderness,

 and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards

 and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.—Hosea 2:14

There is hope! And that hope is in Jesus.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.—1 John 4:9–10

In the same way that Joshua said, “The LORD bring trouble on you today” (v. 25), the LORD himself brought trouble on his Son. That word propitiation means a wrath-averting sacrifice. Jesus can be our substitute. 

I often miss the magnitude of the cross. Here it is. Jesus lived on earth for more than thirty years. He was tempted in every way, but he did not sin. I am like Achan—caught red-handed. My sin is plain and laid down before the Lord, before the God who sees knows all.

This is love: we do not do anything to claw our way to Jesus—he does it all. We simply acknowledge our immense need and trust that his perfect sacrifice is more than sufficient. We can bank on this because Jesus did not stay in the grave. The "Amen" of the worthy sacrifice of Jesus rang out when he rose from the dead.

And—glory of glories—it does not stop there. Jesus also offers his perfect righteousness to those who trust in him.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.—2 Corinthians 5:21 

The evidence is brought out from my tent and laid before the Lord. The Father said, “The Lord bring (Jon’s) trouble on Jesus today.” And the perfect Son of God says that he will take the punishment and trouble of each and every person who will look to his sacrifice. It would be as if Achan confessed his sins—as if they were uncovered before all the people—and Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, was the one who was punished for them.

Conclusion

This is good gospel news for the meek and humble. Repent and believe the gospel. Don’t follow in Achan’s footsteps. There is a savior, there is a wrath bearer. Look to Jesus. Our great God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Come to him in humility. Tell him you need him.

I must also say, this dramatic punishment was originally displayed before a people who were about to move into a spiritually hostile land. And it was put down into Holy Scripture as a warning to those like us whose hearts are easily prone to see, covet, and take.

If you are casually interacting with sin, stop! Bring it into the light (1 John 1:9). Confess it to others so they can pray for your healing (James 5:16). Allow others to watch over your life so that there might not be an evil unbelieving heart in you that will lead you to fall away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12–14).