When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, “I’ll go back to my old haunt.” On return, it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. Matthew 12:43-45 (The Message)
Mom was one who did a lot of entertaining. Consequently, she was very proficient with vacuum cleaners, dust rags, and window cleaners. She was also an excellent cook. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit that part of her attributes. I figure that, if a person can walk through my house without tripping over stacks of books or papers, we’re good!
It isn’t a bad thing to want your house looking nice and cozy. People can relax more if they aren’t worried about knocking over some books or stubbing their toes on a piano. Comfortable spaces don’t have to be cluttered spaces.
Jesus talks a lot in this chapter of Matthew about the reasons why we do things. The “why” is always more important than the “what.”
I used to work for a pension administration company and, at the end of the year, the companies for whom I worked would usually want to provide a bonus for their employees. There was usually someone who had been at the company for a long time and who was especially well-liked among all the people who worked there. If we could say, “Everyone who has worked over ten years will receive a ten-percent bonus,” it would be ok. We could not say, “Fred Kicklehoffer will receive a ten-percent bonus,” because that would be discriminatory.
Jesus is doing a similar thing. Why do we want people to clean their plates? Will the world end if we leave some food on the plate? I don’t think the starving children in China really care if I eat all the brussels sprouts on my plate. If the important thing is to eat healthy food, then let’s focus on how to get kids to eat brussels sprouts – not on cleaning our plates.
If God truly loves his children as much as he says he does, he’s probably a lot more concerned with the love that’s in the home rather than how clean the floors are. It’s a lot more important to fill our lives with hope, encouragement, and love. Without those attributes, it’s harder to keep moving forward through some of our days. It’s easy to become discouraged and to think that nothing will help anyway.
If, perchance, an evil spirit is found lurking inside our spirits and, if we manage to get it kicked out, it might be a wise move to fill that now-empty space with kindness towards others, concern for the earth upon which we stand, and a desire to become better acquainted with God. There’s a lot we can bring into the empty spaces of our lives that will lift us up and not provide any room for a meandering evil spirit!
Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She is the author of “Jessie’s Corner: Something to Think About,” a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.
