In my morning reading, I just finished the pentateuch and am now rolling into Joshua. I noticed something awesome here and I wanted to share. God told Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses (Joshua 1:3) but they hadn’t stepped foot into it yet AND they still had to fight for it. But they already knew that they were secure in the land. The creator of the universe, who led them for 40 years in the wilderness in power and glory had promised it to them.
In the same way, we now walk in freedom from sin. The fight has been won, but we still have to endure the battle. Just as the Israelites had to endure many bloody battles – some where they won handily and others where they lost many men, they still fought secure in the knowledge that the land belonged to them because the One who owned the land had given it to them. We are now owned by Christ. In repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus’ finished work on the cross, we reject our ability to run our lives and hand the keys to our minds, hearts, and actions over to Him. He now owns us and He declares us free from our bondage to sin. It is now our duty to shuffle off the old master and to reject our habits and desires that lead us in opposition to the faith that we now profess.