When Virginia cleans the house, she gets irritated if it gets dirty too quickly. She sweeps, mops, dusts, she puts stuff in the designated “stuff” place, and she empties the trash cans. After she is finished cleaning, Virginia doesn’t want me to track in dirt or put mail on the counter; she doesn’t want me to put a piece of paper in the trash can. No messing up for 30 minutes. Go figure! She wants even the trash cans to stay clean for thirty minutes. For thirty minutes she sits on the couch while the house smells like Pine Sol and Fabuloso. God has instructions about cleaning up the messes in our lives. When God sweeps sin out of our lives as we confess and repent of our sins, He wants us to put something else in its place. God knows that cleaning out sin isn’t enough. You have to replace sin in your life with something that is good or holy. If you don’t replace a bad habit with a good habit, the odds are good that the bad habit is going to take up residence again in your life. So why not today try to do more than just stop doing what you know is wrong and start doing what is right. Remember, you don’t defeat sin by just sweeping it out. You defeat the sinful things in your life by replacing the sinful things with God things.
– Dr. Tim Thompson