Does My Sin Affect Others or Does It Just Affect Me and My Relationship With God?

This question is one that many would like to say that sin affects no one.  But if you look through the Bible, stories abound about how sin affects others.  One In particular is found in Joshua 7.  Israel had just beaten Jericho with God’s help and was told all the plunder belonged to God.  One man by the name of Achan decided that he wanted a fine robe from Babylon, along with some silver coins and a gold bar.  He then snuck them out of Jericho and hid them in his tent by burying it.  As I read this story, I have to ask: Did any of Achan’s family know what he had done?  If so, did they try and stop him?  If they knew, why didn’t they try and stop them?  But the story continues.  Israel went on to Ai to destroy it as God told them to.  Now we know that God knew about Achan’s sin but yet he decided to allow the Israelites to attempt a battle with sin in the camp.  He knew what the results were going to be.  He knew that what seemed to be a small indiscretion or sin would stop the Israelites from gaining victory over the town of Ai.  It was a relatively small town so only a few troops would have been needed to win.  But because of the sin in the camp, that was not the case.  Ai defeated Israel and even killed 36 men as they were retreating in fear.

What happens next is profound.  Joshua goes to God and asks why they had been defeated?  He was afraid because he asked why God had brought them there to be defeated (and this was after the sound defeat of much larger Jericho and after defeating the Edomites and King Og and his allies).  Fear had seized Joshua.  But he did what anyone should do; he fell on his knees and asked God “Why?”  Then God spoke and told him that someone had sinned.  He didn’t tell him who or even what tribe.  So Joshua did as God told him to do and brought the Tribes forward one at a time till one was chosen.  Then from that tribe, they came forward one clan at a time.  Then when the one clan was chosen, each family was brought forward one at a time, and then, when the right family was chosen, each individual was brought forth until Achan was chosen.  Joshua then asked him to be honest and tell what he had done.  He knew then that he was in trouble and so he spilled his guts.  What I find interesting, is that Achan was given 5 chances to confess (all of Israel was brought to God, then the tribes, then the clans, then the families then the individuals) but he did not.  He was hoping that it was someone else or was too afraid to come forward and confess.  As a result of his sin and ultimate confession (and not willingly either), he and his entire family was stoned along with all his possessions including the animals.  All of Israel stoned them, and then they went to Ai again and this time was victorious.

I wonder what would have happened if Achan would have confessed right away when Joshua initially talked to the people.  Would his life been spared?  Would his family been affected as well?  We will never know because he did not even though he was given many chances to confess his sin.  But that one little sin affected the entire nation of Israel and even the town of Ai.  Millions were affected and then the family of Achan died because of his sin and his pride and arrogance that he would not get caught.  He not only went against God and took he items and then lied about it, he was arrogant enough to think he could get away from it and that God did not see what he had done.  But God did see and therefore many people suffered.

Now back to the original question.  Does our sin affect others or just us?  As this story illustrates, it affects many people.  Just think of that little lie you told.  Now you have to make up more lies to cover it up and hope you don’t get caught and hope you can remember them all.  Now many people are affected by what you call an innocent white lie.  Wasn’t as innocent as you first thought was it?  Also we have to remember that everything we do is seen by God.  He knows.  He even promises our sin will find us out (Numbers 32:23).  Maybe not in as public or dramatic a way as Achan’s sin was found out but it will be found out because God knows.  And it affects many people. 

This brings me to this. So what if we do sin (which we all will)?  You can’t say you don’t (1 John 1:10).  What do we do?  We go to God and confess it and turn from our sin.  Don’t let your pride and arrogance or even fear stop you from confessing that sin to God and if need be to the ones that your sin affected.  In order to be a Holy people as God has called us to be we must purge the sin from our life.  Allowing your pride or fear to stop you from turning back to God will only compound the situation and the sin.  Just like Achan compounded his sin by ignoring it, so our sin does the same.  So I say to all of us, REPENT!  Do not let your sin keep you from God’s presence or allow your sin to affect many people.  1 John 1:8-9 says: “If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.”