š¹ TREE 472: Demons in waterless places
Hereās a thing Jesus said:
āWhen an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says, āI will return to the home I left.ā When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.ā (Luke 11:24ā26, NET)
Whether or not you believe in demons and demon possession, youāve got to appreciate the vivid picture Jesus gives us of why only getting rid of harmful behaviour isnāt enough.
I wrote last week about shutting off the feed. And Iāve done it. I deleted the social media apps from my phone. I unsubscribed from a bunch of emails that were clogging my inbox and my brain. My environment is āswept clean and put in orderā. But if I donāt intentionally fill the space I cleared, it will be filled mindlessly and Iāll be back where I started. Or somewhere worse.
Whatās more powerful:
I really should stop wasting so much time scrolling through this feed
or
Sorry, I donāt have time for the feed. Iām busy [positive thing you are doing]
?
Itās less work to pursue a good thing than it is to maintain a clean, orderly absence of a negative thing.
You know I love to draw a horse.
Some of my favourite bass ever. (Spotify)
Grow slowly
Jeff
Online and responding. Praying for and yours in the transition. Iām in Tucson, creating space to heal a renal cyst. Iām grateful to be off grid and without internet (cāmon, Elon!)
Love this. I relocated IG and FB from my Home Screen and buried then, turned off notifications etc, and in their place, I put the Substack app.
Now I read peopleās Substacks, discover new writers like you, and engage with my own readers instead of doom scrolling and seeing Botox ads courtesy of Zuckerberg. Itās far better, and more educational, while still being a bit social.