Luke 11:23-26
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
In verse 23 Jesus makes the interesting statement: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters". Sometimes I am guilty not of obviously opposing God, but of doing my own thing apart from God. Sexual temptations seem to only affect me, not God, so it appears to be harmless, but Jesus says here that the effect is deeper. The bottom line is that we either align our will with God's, or we are against His kingdom. There is no middle ground. So the real question to consider is not whether something is obviously against God's will (which we can maybe rationalize around), but whether something is aligned with God's will. That is a higher standard which calls us into deeper relationship with God.
Jesus follows this with a comment about demons. The point is that it is not enough to cast out a demon or remove a sin. We must fill the empty space with something healthy, like new habits. In other words we must do more than just avoid sin, we must actively fill our life with God's spirit. This again is a higher and deeper standard.
Lord, help me to align my will with Yours.
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
In verse 23 Jesus makes the interesting statement: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters". Sometimes I am guilty not of obviously opposing God, but of doing my own thing apart from God. Sexual temptations seem to only affect me, not God, so it appears to be harmless, but Jesus says here that the effect is deeper. The bottom line is that we either align our will with God's, or we are against His kingdom. There is no middle ground. So the real question to consider is not whether something is obviously against God's will (which we can maybe rationalize around), but whether something is aligned with God's will. That is a higher standard which calls us into deeper relationship with God.
Jesus follows this with a comment about demons. The point is that it is not enough to cast out a demon or remove a sin. We must fill the empty space with something healthy, like new habits. In other words we must do more than just avoid sin, we must actively fill our life with God's spirit. This again is a higher and deeper standard.
Lord, help me to align my will with Yours.