Religion - Time of Possession

Last night the youth group studied Matthew Chapter 12. Other than a slightly off topic discussion about Elijah, the passage that received the most interest was near the end of the chapter:

43"When an evil[f] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then 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 man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

I believe this passage certainly applies to us today. People, whether Christian or not, can decide to eliminate activities from their lifestyle that they consider immoral or harmful to themselves or others around them. However, the soul is restless. It yearns for occupation. Even the atheist would agree that humans loathe boredom. Many people today complain of being too busy. However a person with a full productive schedule is likely to be much happier than someone with nothing to do. We will find a way to fill our time. I believe this restlessness was given to us by God so that we would search for Him and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us. This passage explains that even though we may rid ourselves of sin/negative behavior, if we do not replace that activity with positive behavior then the old habits can return and return in a state even worse than before. It's like the football saying, "the best defense is a good offense". The idea is that if your team can keep the ball, the other team cannot score because it does not have a chance. You have successfully defended your goal not by stopping the other team from moving the ball, but by never letting their offense step onto the field. If your life is a football field, something/somebody is going to be on it and moving the football. Will it be God and the Holy Spirit playing offense and winning the time of possession? If you do not allow that, the restlessness of your soul will find an inadequate replacement and God will be put on defense, or, worse yet, be forced to watch from the sidelines. Something will fill our time, filling it with good things is the best way to prevent the bad.