The main event of Joshua 22 is that the Israelite tribes on the other side of the Jordan build an altar, a replica of the altar of the Lord. The rest of the Israelites rally to kill them for forsaking the Lord. They remember the times past where the sin of some brought trouble for everyone.

One of the stories they recall is that of Achan. He stole some valuables. Not only were he and his family killed, but there were some other Israelites killed when they went into battle not realizing that God wasn’t going with them because of the sin in their camp. They say to the eastern tribes, “Achan didn’t die alone for his sin.”

Do you ever stop to think about the serious consequences of sin? The wages of sin is death. We focus on the gift of grace and forgiveness. Yes, there is grace and forgiveness. But sin does bring death, in many ways.

There are different kinds of sin. There’s the, “Lord, I told you I would get up early and spend time with you but I slept in” kind of sin. God is patient with our fumbling around in our flesh. That kind of sin only breeds death if it’s a habit because then you would be continually putting flesh above God.

In that particular example you would be not giving Him your time and you need His Word to live, so if you are continually starving yourself and ignoring Him, that’s a road to death. There’s hurt coming, which is a good thing, to get you turned back to God and back on the paths of righteousness that leads to dwelling with Him eternally.

Then there’s sin that you don’t know about. It was unconscious, accidental. When He shows you your sin, you stop and ask forgiveness and repent, grateful that He’s growing you and teaching you. That’s life, not death.

Then there is conscious sin. You know it is wrong, but you reject God’s way and choose selfishness and choose to sin. That sin breeds death. That sin will hurt you and hurt those around you.

This is the sin that scares the wife, that leads a wife into acting controlling, into trying to play God in their family. She knows a sinful husband’s bad choices can hurt them all. But here again is where faith kicks in. God sees the whole and the individual. A wife sinning to protect herself from sin is a recipe itself for death. A wife resting on her “husband” Jesus to take care of them will find life.