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We are finishing up Chapter 12 of Matthew, which you will recall we started on January 19th. Today, when I read verses 43-45, it really convicted me of the contrast in time I spend clearing my life of evil versus the amount of time I spend building an authentic relationship with God. The passage says, “43 When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” Jesus was addressing the religious leaders and saying it does them no good to live clean and pure lives without filling it with God. Likewise, the passage could easily be written directly to us. If we simply try to be good and follow all the rules and do not fill it with God in our lives, we are destined to fill it with something that is not of God. Instead, we must continuously seek to attain a fulfilling relationship with God.
Daily Devotion 
To paraphrase my pastor, worship means giving worth to something by spending time on it, and if we choose to put our focus on something other than God, we open up ourselves to the worship of other things. A lot of the things people worship have an ancient god affiliated with them; Baal for money & power, etc. I can’t do his sermon justice, but today’s reading reminded me of it.
I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. (Matthew 12:36 HCSB)
ThIs verse really makes me contemplate about how I chose my words. I’m often careless and don’t think about the impact of my words or who might be listening.
The “unforgivable” sin. The rejection of the Holy Spirit. I grew up with the fear of accidentally committing this sin. Oh yes, God is forgiving, except for this one thing! What I learned was that it was God’s choice to not forgive us if we rejected the Holy Spirit. Which never made much sense to me, because that didn’t sound like the God I knew. I finally began to understand this passage after reading Lewis’s “The Great Divorce”. Fantastic short novel and an easy read (for once!:)). Everyone should read it. And then when I read this passage in the Message. The whole issue comes down to a choice a person makes. You can either choose Jesus or you don’t. Plain and simple. I love how the message says this, “If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you’re sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” It ultimately comes down to us and our choices. Once again, God showing that he wil not shove himself on us. He will not cross our boundaries. If we don’t want him around, he’ll stay away. He also is showing his own boundaries. There is a healthy way to interact with him, and if we choose not to go that route, then we don’t get that relationship. It’s an excellent example of a non-codependent relationship. If God sets boundaries with us and also respects our boundaries we put up with him, why do we let people cross ours and why don’t we respect theirs? Yeah. Not a real popular topic among Christians. It sounds “mean”. But apparently it’s healthy. We would be wise to take note of this example and follow.