Cleaning out the junk

I’ll admit it.  I’m a pack rat.  I just have a tendency to keep unwanted and unneeded things around.  It’s my nature I guess.

I would guess there are many people around like me.  But if there’s one thing that we shouldn’t keep around in our lives, it’s sin and the things that would lead us into temptation.

And so when Amon’s son, Josiah became king, he quickly started clearing out the junk. 

It didn’t happen all at once.  Josiah became king at age 8, but by age 16, it says that he began to seek the God of his father David (2 Chronicles 34:3).

What caused him to turn, I don’t know. 

Maybe when he was a boy, his grandfather Manasseh had a talk with him about all his failures.  Josiah sure didn’t get any good influence from his father.

But whatever the reason, he started seeking God. 

Immediately, he started to get rid of all the idols, altars to other gods, and all other things that were ensnaring the people in idolatry. 

He went so far as to crush all the idols to powder and to get rid of all the false priests from the land.

That’s cleaning out the junk. 

We need to do the same. 

Maybe it’s books or magazines or videos that are causing us to fall.  Maybe it’s things in our hearts such as envy, bitterness, or anger, or greed.

But whatever junk may be there, it has no place in our hearts. 

And if we’re truly seeking God, we need to get rid of it, just as Josiah did.

What do you need to get rid of in your life?