23 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
There is no neutral ground when it comes to the things of God. There are only two teams, with no alternates sitting on the bench. We would like to believe that you can delay taking a stand on certain matters. Sometimes we want more time to sort things out, to examine for ourselves, to weigh our options. But those actions place us on a team, at least temporarily. Inaction places us on a team. From Jesus’ perspective we are either with Him or against Him, gathering or scattering. We might even want to try to do a bit of both. But Jesus does not leave that option open. The verses around this verse all deal with the casting out of demons and the greater power that Jesus has over demonic powers. Jesus is able to take authority over a demon and force him to exit a person. When Jesus enters a space, demons are compelled to leave. The demons know who Jesus is. They recognize God when they see Him. They know the next steps: they will be leaving forcefully against their wills. They have no choice. The Strong One has entered the room. When Jesus enters our life His power is present to clean our houses of anything that displeases Him. The problem lies in our sinful will. We often don’t want to yield. We choose to be distant from the Lord. We hang on to the sin as though it were a treasure to be relished, instead of sewage to be flushed. Sin distorts our perception of the value of sin itself. Sin also distorts our perception of the power of God. We sometimes think that our sin is too difficult for the Lord to tackle. His powers to clean will work with someone else, but not with us. Our sin is uniquely sinful. God’s grace cannot reach as low as our sin. But this thinking is as result of sin’s power to deceive. There is no sin that Jesus’ death and resurrection does not cure.
The Arnold Journey 