It happened again. I was faced with the same pattern of dysfunction. Why does change not happen? Why do relationships seem to be the same? What keeps lives from being different? In the midst of the difficult situation, I asked the Lord why someone, especially a believing someone, would continue in obvious wrongdoing against others. The Lord brought me to Acts 16 for the answer.
Acts 16:16a
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.
This slave girl had an evil spirit that predicted events in the future. Why would the owners tolerate a demon in their lives, in their home, in their workplace?
Acts 16:16b
She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
The presence of a demon profited the slave owners! Evil was permitted as long as there was a benefit. Sadly, this is true in us as well. Often, we do not confront obvious sin, which is evil and demonic, in our lives because there is a gain for us:
Sin of approval (people-pleasing, enabling, compromise, living for others not God) profits us for people to like us.
Sin of gossip profits us to create connections with some and exclude others.
Sin of addiction (which can include spending, social media, and video games) profits us to escape pain.
Sin of anger profits us to silence the opposition.
Sin of choosing what is comfortable (instead of what God is calling us to do) profits us to avoid accountability and possible failure.
Sin of control profits us to get our way.
Sin of….we could list more, but the point is made.
If our sin profits us in some way, we allow it to the harm of ourselves and others. We can know what we are doing is wrong (just as the owners knew the source of their slave’s ability was via an evil spirit) and still continue in our evil behavior. We may even excuse our actions because of the benefits that come from it, refusing to acknowledge that the transgression is demonic in nature and the enemy has control of us in that area. A toleration of sin is a toleration of demonic influence around us. We think we are benefiting from our actions in some way but in truth the enemy is gaining the most advantage from the sin.
We need to quit allowing the enemy’s control in our lives by making the changes required of us. The time has come to confront the evil and cast it out: No more delays!
Acts 16:18b
“In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
May we and others be set free when we choose to no longer profit from our sin.