When Jesus cast out a demon that had rendered a man mute, His enemies accused Him of casting out demons “by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons” (Luke 11:14-15). Jesus pointed out the absurdity of their charge (Luke 11:17-19), then used this event to teach a lesson about the heart.
Jesus said, “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).
Though we do not experience demon possession today, Jesus’ point has an application for us. If we remove some sinful practice from our lives, we must replace it with something good. If we fail to do this, we leave the door open for that sin to be reintroduced into our lives and even be compounded into an even greater problem.
So leave no room for sin. Extended periods of idleness and boredom can make us more susceptible to temptation. Our lives need to be filled with those things that are pleasing to God.