Full House
Noeo Commentary for Matthew 12.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
That’s depressing. We’re doing something wrong, a terrible habit that we can’t seem to break. We think we’ve got a hold on it, but it comes right back at us, 7 times as strong, and we’re forced to our knees again. Psychology calls it spontaneous recovery. It’s a bad thing, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced it. I’m sure it’s happened to most of us with our new years resolutions. Humans suck at breaking habits. We’ve got an entire section of our brains dedicated to doing the same thing over and over again – it’s called procedural memory. It’s good when you’re riding a bike… not so good when you’re trying to stop smoking. To stop doing drugs. To stop stealing or swearing or lusting or disobeying. The desires’ going to come back.
I’ll write about a friend of mine. I’m not going to mention his name or the specific habit he was trying to break. We were talking, and he says, ‘I was doing so good on breaking this habit, but Christmas break really did me in.’
It’s rough. Those kinds activities give us pleasure. They release dopamine and endorphines, they make us want to do it again. The habit left, but when it stopped by during Christmas break and found nobody home, he gladly waltzed back in with his buddies. So what are we going to do about this. I’ll now post the paraphrase of another one of my friends, in response to the last quote…
‘You just gotta keep busy, man. You gotta keep your mind off of it.’
That’s the key. When that habit, that evil spirit, walks back to your house with his friends, you’re place has gotta be packed. Learn from the poker players – go for the full house. Nobody robs you when you’re home.
But what do you fill your house with? Invite over your Christian friends. Tell ‘em to burn you some good music. Do a read-the-bible-in-a-year study. Study for Spanish, do some SAT prep. Go sledding, skating, or skiing. Grab some friends and chase geese. Work. Work out. Play baseball. Play Wii baseball. Make a post in your blog.
The same applies to hunger, to pain, to boredom. If you don’t pay attention to it, you won’t do it. When you’re doing good stuff, you’re not going to be thinking of bad stuff. Keep your mind off it. Keep the house full.
It works.
Today’s Song: Ghostbusters – Ray Parkey Jr. (apparently)
sounds like a plan.