Matthew 12:43-45 (NIV)
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 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. 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 person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
The eventual aim of God for His children is to be transformed into the image of His Son. How? This takes place gradually through a subjection of each individual to a lifetime of joy and pain. This process is known as "breaking" (a term familiar with horse breeders).
The problem is that many of us believe just being "broken" is sufficient. Brokenness allows the Spirit of God (activated when we submit ourselves to Christ) to shine through us to the world at large.
But the truth is that God wants none of the remnants of our personality to remain after He is done with transforming us! This is where many will disagree. We still strongly believe our personality is desirable to God. We still speak of our soul's salvation in terms that reveal we abhor its complete death.
Jesus clearly spoke of the inevitability of loss before gain (and vice versa). He said, whoever sought to lose their life would save it, and whoever tried to save their life would lose it!
He even demonstrated it with His own life! He died. And He was raised up on the third day.
If Jesus did not die, we could not have been set free from bondage to death. If our souls do not die, we cannot fully express the Son of God resident as the Life within us!
Exodus 23:30 NLT
Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
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