Monday Meditation - Luke 11:24-26

There are scriptures that bother me, that I don't like. So I try to study them to better understand them so they don't bother me anymore or to figure out where a possible mistranslation has happened, so they don't bother me anymore.

Examples include when Jesus is teaching in a house and his mother is outside and asks to see him. His response is "who is my family? These are my family." I'm still working on this - I get his point but every time I read it, I think "honor thy mother", go see her.

Another example is the story of Mary and Martha when Mary isn't helping to get dinner ready and on the table. I so understand Martha's perspective. I'm actually getting a better understanding of this scripture and as that gets more solidified, I'll post it for a Monday Meditation. I will say that I know I'm a Martha more than a Mary.

But the point of today's post is Luke 11:24-26. Jesus Christ casts out evil spirits. In this scripture, He tells those listening that the evil spirit leaves and then comes back to find its home cleaned out so it invites more evil spirits to dwell there too. This makes the last state much worse than the first.

Whenever I've read this, the thought occurs to me then are we ever really cleaned from our sins? What's the point if it's just going to be worse later? Now I know this isn't truth - but that's my interpretation of those few verses. Isn't it wonderful that we don't just have 3 verses? We have all of the scriptures to help us truly understand the scriptures.

We Latter-day Saints are also blessed to have prophets on the earth! I found a great quote that made these scriptures an A-ha moment. Here's the quote...

President Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness
"The things which engaged him and caught his fancy and occupied his thoughts are gone and better substitutions have not filled the void. This is Satan's opportunity."

I get it now! As we remove what distracts us or leads us away from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we need to replace it immediately with something good so that Satan is not given that opportunity.