Step/Week 6, Day 5 – Ready: Do Replace Your Character Defects
May 6, 2020 1156
“This evil nation is like a man possessed by a demon. For if the demon leaves, it goes into the deserts for a while, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the man I came from.’ So it returns and finds the man’s heart clean but empty! Then the demon finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and all enter the man and live in him. And so he is worse off than before” (Matt. 12:43-45, TLB).
Have you realised what great work God is doing in your life? How He is removing your character defects, and you are seeing and accepting those changes. If you are, well done! You really are on the road to recovery.
However, you have another part to play when God removes a character defect. You need to be aware that this character defect has been removed by God and that a gap needs filling within you. You need to fill that gap with something positive, otherwise you can quite easily become like the man in the story that Jesus tells in our verses for today. This story contains a timely warning.
Something bad (the demon) left the man but could find no rest, so it returned back to the man to live within him. The man’s heart was clean, but he hadn’t filled the space the demon had left, so the demon brought along other demons, who were even more evil than the first demon and they made the man’s situation worse than it had been before, much worse. This will be the same for you, if you do not fill the space that a removed character defect has left. You need to act!
So, what sort of things could fill these gaps? Well, you could get involved in some church activities, see if there’s an opportunity to volunteer at a charity of your choice, even offer to walk with someone on their recovery journey. Read your Bible or helpful, Christian literature. Listen to music. Go for a walk, but just do something that will replace the gap left within you, when God removes one of your character defects. You don’t want to end up like the man in the story, do you?
– Graham Hood
Personal Reflection: What sort of things can you replace your removed character defects with? Spend some time in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you. Be bold! Be open to change, if your chosen option doesn’t work for you, first time round.
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