Paul understood that his responsibility was to proclaim the entire Gospel the whole will of God. The parts that make us feel good and the parts that make us cringe at our own shortcomings. Paul understood the key verses today. The person in the illustration had a victory as the evil spirit left him. He had a victory over sin. But what he did afterwards is what determined the end result. The void left from the sin still had to be filled. It needed to be filled by Christ. Getting rid of the evil is not enough. The space needs to be filled with what is good. What is righteous. When saying farewell to the Philippian Church Paul taught:
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8-9 (NLT)
Fix your thoughts on God and Godly things. Put into practice what we have learned from the Gospels. Then the God of peace will be with us. Then when the evil spirit returns he will discover that you have changed the locks on where he used to live!
Let's face it beloved. The key verses intimate that the reason why the evil spirit returns and brings friends with him is because we allow it. We have a victory over sin and sometimes confuse the war with the battle.
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Ephesians 6: 10-13 (NLT)
This is not a game we are playing. The Bible is not a Veggie Tale we tell our kids so they stay out of trouble. There is a spiritual war waging every day. We have battles which we sometimes win and sometimes lose. That battle is spiritual, which is why sometimes we have a difficult time wrapping our carnal, earthly minds around it. The battle is waged against us to make us ineffectual for the work of the kingdom. What's the big deal there? The more ineffectual we are for God, the less people who come to the foot of the cross for salvation it's that simple.
So when that spirit returns to you and brings seven of his friends with him what condition will they find your house in? Will it be swept clean and put in order but have the same spiritual locks as before? Shined up bright and clean on the outside but still traces of the filth of the world on the inside. Remember, the evil spirit thinks he still has the key! Or will you have moved Jesus into that space, changed the spiritual locks and taken the "for rent" sign off of your soul? As long as the space is permanently occupied by the God of peace, the spirits that seek to move in will have to keep searching for that dry place to settle and rest. May the living waters of Christ be always found in you.
