Why Have You Done This?

"And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?" (Judges 2:1-2)

Translated -- I did what I said I would do, why didn't you? The bottom line is, God is faithful. Humans are not. We cannot be perfect because we still have our sin nature to contend with. I think the problem lies in the very obvious fact that most of us don't bother to contend with sin in our lives. We don't try to be different at all. We justify it in all kinds of ways, "I need to develop a relationship with them so I can witness to them...", "It may be a sex chat room but it is a perfect place to share Truth...", "I have liberty in Christ...", "I don't have that gift...", "I can't help it, it's just the way God made me...", "If that person wouldn't have done this to me...", etc. Jesus echoed God's desire for us to "make no league with the inhabitants of the land" when he prayed for us in John 17, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

Many of us know God's truth, but knowing and living are two very different things. Knowledge alone guarantees we will still have to answer that haunting question, "Why have ye done this?" If we fail to allow the Truth to sanctify us -- separate us, make us different, desire a holy lifestyle -- we have missed the point. God is not interested in how much we know or even how much we help others along the way by sharing that knowledge with them. God is interested in our obedience. He wants us to pursue Him more than we pursue anything in life. He wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

This question strikes fear in my heart. Why doesn't the Truth impact my life more? Why doesn't it impact the average Christian's life more? Why have we made no difference between ourselves and the rest of the land? Why have we done this? May God in His great mercy deliver us from ourselves before we find ourselves unable to look into the eyes of the One Who gave His all for our salvation, unable to use our old standby answers when He queries, "Why have ye done this?"