I came across the following written many years ago by E.B. Pusey. (see link at end of article for info about ol' E.B.)
E.B. war writing about rooting out sin in one's life. In particular "one sin, which seems to stand out before thee". He encourages the reader to "spare it not, until thou leave of it none remaining, neither root nor branch." But is was what he wrote in regards to what to do after rooting out a particular sin.
"Fix, by God's help, not only to root out this sin, but to set thyself to gain, by that same help, the opposite grace. If thou art tempted to be angry, try hard by God's grace to be very meek; if to be proud, seek to be very humble."1
What a powerful idea. Allowing God to not only remove a particular sin or weakness in our life, but replace it with an extra dose of that sin's antithesis.
I liken this concept to trying to paint a red room a lighter color. One coat. Not gonna do it. Surely two coats. Better, but still not complete. Third coat. Finally, but some small brush work still needed. If we have allowed a particular sin to become so engrained, just exorcising that sin from our lives will leave a vacuum. That vacuum can, through God's grace, be filled with a double dose of that sin's Kryptonite.
Even though E.B. died in 1882, his words are still relevalt. Mankind really hasn't advanced much at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bouverie_Pusey
1. Tilson, Mary. Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Harvard, University Press, 1884.
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