Luke 8
Just about everyone who comes to Jesus hopes he'll change something about our lives. We hope our marriage will be better, or our relationship with our kids or our parents. We hope something will change at school or at work, or that he'll show us a solution to a mess we've made; that we'll feel more secure, or simply know that we're loved. And when we come to Jesus, we are not disappointed. As with the people in this chapter, Jesus shows us he cares and demonstrates that he has the power to do things in our lives we could not do for ourselves.
But when we have what we came for, Jesus isn't done. He wants to help us with that thing we did not ask for. He starts to meddle. He wants to change our lives more than we want them changed. He starts to give us what we need, not just what we want. And like the Gerasenes, we have a choice: to accept all the change Jesus brings, or ask him to leave.
When Jesus comes to town, it affects your business, your budget, your personal life, the way you spend your time, and the darker places in your heart. Are you willing to let him stay, and do what only he can do?
"Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left."
-verse 37
Just about everyone who comes to Jesus hopes he'll change something about our lives. We hope our marriage will be better, or our relationship with our kids or our parents. We hope something will change at school or at work, or that he'll show us a solution to a mess we've made; that we'll feel more secure, or simply know that we're loved. And when we come to Jesus, we are not disappointed. As with the people in this chapter, Jesus shows us he cares and demonstrates that he has the power to do things in our lives we could not do for ourselves.
But when we have what we came for, Jesus isn't done. He wants to help us with that thing we did not ask for. He starts to meddle. He wants to change our lives more than we want them changed. He starts to give us what we need, not just what we want. And like the Gerasenes, we have a choice: to accept all the change Jesus brings, or ask him to leave.
When Jesus comes to town, it affects your business, your budget, your personal life, the way you spend your time, and the darker places in your heart. Are you willing to let him stay, and do what only he can do?
I'm disappointed that you failed to tell everyone that this is the first account of "Deviled Ham."
ReplyDeleteI like this story because up in v34, the people tending the pigs that received the demonic spirits, were "scared to death" and they "bolted." I can understand this. I imagine this was not something easy to see. If you have ever seen someone have a seizure with convulsions, you understand the tension that fills the room when something of this nature happens. This doctor is telling of an event far more disturbing than a seizure. The difference with this group is that when they bolted, they went and "told their story in town and country." Their fear led them to evangelism - to the telling of the story.
Occasionally, I may be scared to death at the working of God around me, but I hope that fear moves me to tell the story.