Remove to Replace

So I have the YouVersion Bible app on my phone for easy on-the-go access to the Word of God. On the app, the creators have incorporated a feature in which you can add "friends". When you add someone as a "friend" - and they accept - it allows each party to view the verses their friend has highlighted, check out any notes they've taken and shared, and view each other's bible plan activity. The app also offers the option to "like" any of the previously stated activities, in which your friend will receive a notification that you have liked something they have done on the app.

So someone, whom I don't think I know in real life, added me as a friend and I accepted. A few hours later I got a notification that they had liked my note called "remove to replace". It's based on Ezekiel 43:9 and I wrote it in 2014 on August 28. The year 2014 feels like a long time ago, and to be honest, I don't even remember publishing the note or highlighting the verse.

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The note is short and to the point, it reads as follows:

Sometimes we have to put stuff away (for good) in order for God to enter in and stay with us forever. GOD HATES SIN. Simple as that. He loves YOU, but doesn't and cannot love sin. Remove all that doesn't bring glory to Him in your life and He will be with you. 

Ezekiel 43:9 NIV says:

Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.

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This is an incredible reminder for me, because sometimes it's so easy to get comfortable and hold on to those things we are familiar with. Things that we can predict or feel that we have control over. It may be pertaining to people, family or friends. Or we can become consumed by certain habits or thought patterns. Or even things we do based on "tradition" or responding to situations with the mentality of "this is how I was raised".

Not everything we do is "sin" or sinful; we'd have to evaluate whatever it is that needs to be removed. My suggestion is to do this through prayer, and using God's Word as a basis on which to live our lives. If it isn't uplifting, nor bringing glory to God, or is just flat out wrong and you know it - do something about it. True repentance leads to change.i

Remove to replace.