Now when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will go with this evil generation.     Matthew 12:43-45 LSB

I remember when my house was first built. I can recall the last days of construction when the finishing touches were being done. The house seemed huge because it was empty. There was no furniture, no paintings or pictures or anything to make it personable. Nothing to reflect that anyone even lived there.

I was working full time and intended on taking my time to decorate, but my mom was retired and thought I was taking too long. She had a key, so I would often come home and find new curtains or a flower arrangement. Fortunately, our tastes were similar.

If we are honest with ourselves no one wants to live in an empty house. We like having things like sofas, beds, tables to eat on, appliances and all those creature comforts. We have our own style and like to decorate it to reflect our style.

When a house is empty, the person leaving may have cleaned it up and swept it out good, but eventually if left empty and unatteded, it will be inhabited by undesirable creatures. There is not only danger of animals coming in and destroying the house, but it could also become a haven for vagrants, prostitutes, substance abusers and all sorts of problems can come from this. It could even lead to the destruction of the house.

So, think of your heart as a house. You want to clean your house. Maybe you have some sin in your life that you want to rid yourself of, this is a good thing. You start to work at ridding yourself of this sin, just as someone might clean a house.

To keep a house clean, we know this requires a constant effort. To keep our hearts and our minds clean requires keeping them filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus is referring to the demon finding the house empty. This means when our hearts are empty or void of the Holy Spirit, they are susceptible to the return of their former sinful behaviors, even worse.

Just as an empty house is not good, empty hearts are not good. We can’t experience true, lasting moral reform on our own. We need the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us. We need Him to fill our hearts so there is no room left for the devil and his schemes.

If you truly want to reform yourself, admit you are a sinner, believe in God, and confess your sins to Him. Repent and ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit to help you resist the temptation to return to your former sinful ways or worse.

Trust in Him today. Sweep your heart clean and ask God to fill it with His Holy Spirit. It’s good demon repellent.

Have a great day!