Purge.

That has been one of my focus words for the past few months. I have been purging closets, purging habits, purging eating habits, purging thoughts, purging priorities, purging music, purging television habits, purging future schedules, purging the house (aka spring cleaning), purging things. 

So. Much. Purging. 

Then I read Deuteronomy 12:2–3 in my daily Bible reading, and so much wisdom in purging is shown. It says, “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place” (NKJV).  

You see? The Lord had told Israel He was displacing their enemies because of their wickedness (Deuteronomy 9:4), and He wanted them to rid that land of every tiny bit of wickedness, because if they participated in wickedness, He would displace them out of the land, too. 

Our house? We have no altars to idols, no sacred pillars, no wooden images, no carved images of gods; but there have been some things that bog me down, cause me more work, remind me of times better forgotten, keep me from my real calling. There is a reason God has called me to a purging. 

What does this have to do with loving a prodigal? Sometimes we need to remove that picture that reminds us of bad memories. Sometimes we need to purge unforgiveness by praying until we have forgiven our prodigals for pain they’ve caused. Sometimes we need to purge anxiety, sadness, grief, and exhaustion from our lives by praising until we can keep our minds on the Lord and receive His perfect peace. You get the picture.

It is time to get rid of anything that will pull us away from God and His purposes for us and put in things that will support our walk with Him and our mission for His kingdom.