A number of days ago, someone decided to enter my little house in the forest. They didn’t eat any of my porridge or break any of my chairs, nor did the police found any evidence that Goldilocks might have slept in one of my beds. But what they did find was a broken door knob, and just a couple of things missing that should have been there. And no, the three bears weren’t guarding the place either.
It was early Tuesday evening when i got the message from my realtor that someone had broken into my place by the lake. Not a good feeling, but no big deal either,.. or so i thought. I’ve gained and lost much more in my 47 year journey than this small building could ever contain. So in the big picture this incident seemed quite minuscule at first.
And minuscule it is, yet a few hours later that evening it all started to sink in. An awful and sickening feeling that someone uninvited, someone unwelcome, someone unwanted forced their way onto my premises and into my life. I’ve never had quite that feeling before, perhaps because i’ve never been burglarized before. Sure, i’ve had cars broken into and things stolen from me while traveling, business partners cheat me, but i have never had anyone unwelcome enter my place, a place i once painstakingly rebuilt and renovated, furnished, lived, entertained, rested, and slept in. This was my territory, my abode.
When you put your heart into something and it fails, breaks or crumbles it can be quite a rough experience to swallow. But when someone else damages, steals or violates what you’ve poured your heart into and comes into your personal space, it feels quite different. It feels almost as if part of your life or soul has been taken from you. Even when the violation causes minimal physical loss or damage, as it was in this case.
As i try to make sense of my emotions in all this, it occurs to me that God has created us as territorial beings. I’m not really one who’s preoccupied with possessions, though i must admit to babying my cars and motorcycles in my younger days. This experience however has reminded me how important my territory and personal space is. Most things i own are replaceable or fixable, but violation of my space and my territory is not.
I think of my parents who fled their homeland during an occupation. Their land and territory was suddenly in the control of someone else. It hurts when your territory is occupied. No matter where they may have gone, no matter how beautiful the new place may be (or even those who remained in their territory), the pain of one’s territory being occupied remains.
The occupation of my territory was just for a moment, yet it was a clear violation of my space. It’s not so much about what they did or took (though if caught, they should clearly make some kind of restitution), but it’s the fact that they crossed both a visible and an invisible line into my life. This is the type of violation, a territorial violation that can dismantle one’s security.
The scriptures talks a lot about territories. Look through the Old Testament, countless stories of land being taken from people and people take from their land. It also talks about kingdoms of darkness and light, spiritual territories we can’t see with our physical eyes. Ephesians 6:12 says our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities of the spiritual realm.
Hmm,... principalities... (turn on the lightbulb!) It’s all about the control of territories! Our lives, our families, our homes, our nations are not about possessions, but about territories! The enemy has no right to enter our space, yet that’s exactly what he tries to do time after time and again! So what is securing our territory? How do we defend it?
Well, you certainly can’t count on the three bears to be around to guard your porridge, chairs and beds. It’s just not possible to always protect your possessions from thieves! But what you can do is protect your most important territory, the territory of your heart. The scripture says: ‘Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life' (Proverbs 4:23). This is the territory the enemy wants to violate! Look ahead to Matthew 6:21 where it states: 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also'. So if your heart is on your possessions, the enemy’s already got you!
So what are my most valued treasures and territories? And how should i guard them?
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