Amazingly Good

"When I straighten up my life, then I'll go to church.  When I quit........"  I'd been sharing my faith with a fellow at the desk behind me.  I'd invited him to hear my husband preach in a nearby church.  After his response, I told him that he had it backwards.  God loves him just as he is.  The straightening comes later. 

My friend had a skewed view of God.  He thought he could hide his activities.  He thought he didn't deserve God's love and acceptance.  He didn't think he was good enough and he didn't think God was good enough.  Jesus' encounter with a man possessed by a legion of evil spirits reminded me how Good God was and is! 

Mark's version of the event begins in chapter 5 verse 1.  Jesus and the disciples crossed the lake and a man came from his current home, the tombs, to meet him.  No one and no chains were strong enough to subdue him.  He cried out night and day and cut himself with stones.  When he saw Jesus at a distance he ran to him and fell on his knees in front of Jesus.  He loudly shouted "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God.  Swear to God that you won't torture me!"  Jesus had said "Come out of this man, you evil spirit."

The man knew Jesus was his last hope for a normal life and he ran to Jesus.  The evil spirits knew of Jesus' power and authority and made an attempt to bargain with Him.  They seemed to think that the herd of pigs was a viable option and suggested Jesus let them go into the pigs.  He gave them permission.  The herd of about 2000 pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. (I'm not sure this is what the evil spirits thought would happen.)

Those who tended the pigs hurried off to town and country to tell what happened and the people came out to see.  They found Jesus and the man who had been possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.  Instead of being amazed and glad for the poor man who'd lived in the tombs and must have been scary himself, they were afraid and begged Jesus to leave. The people were so afraid of the marvelous changes, they rejected Jesus.

The delivered man begged to go with Jesus.  (Today this is my favorite part.)  Jesus didn't let him come.  Instead Jesus told him to go home to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done for him.  Jesus gave him back a normal life with his family!  If this had happened today, Jesus' public relations team would have exploited this man and his story.  He would have had his "15 minutes of fame" and struggled to have a normal life.

But Jesus is Good, so very Good.  He gives us the deepest desires of our heart.  Imagine living a tortured life alone in the tombs.  I'd just want to go home and be normal.  That's what this man got after he fell on his  knees before Jesus, a normal life with his family.

Too often, we think if we follow Jesus we will have to "give up" what we want.  Really He gives us the best and most desired because He is Good, really, really Good.

The man went away and told how much Jesus had done for him.  And the people were amazed. 

I have been reminded that Jesus is good to me and good for me because He is Good, really Good.  All Jesus asks of me is to tell others what He has done for me.  I am amazed at His Goodness and hopefully those I tell will be amazed at His goodness.

Storm Prep

I heard the front door open and in walked my six year old son - 20 minutes before I was to pick him up from school.  I was confused.  Was the clock wrong? Why didn't he call me?  When I questioned him, I discovered there had been a cancellation of his activity and some confusion at the school regarding the use of the phone, so he'd walked home.  Then I panicked.  I'd never shown him how to walk home or what to do in this circumstance.  He'd made it home but he'd traveled the long way.

Immediately he and I set out to practice walking home from school.  I showed him the safest and shortest way.  We also discussed friends who lived along the way so he could go there to phone me.

I thought about being prepared for change in life when I read the parables in Mark chapter 4.  I got the feeling that Jesus was preparing His disciples for what He knew would be happening in their future.  He spoke in parables to the masses but He spent time explaining the parables to the disciples.

In the first parable about the farmer sowing seed on various types of soil, Jesus tells the disciples he is giving them the secret to the kingdom.  I'm not sure they completely  understand what He meant by the kingdom (they probably hoped it meant kick out the Romans and crown Jesus King) but He certainly gave advice on what He expected from them.  He expected them to keep sowing the seed of The Word regardless of the type of soil and the quantity of the harvest. 

Jesus used a lamp to illustrate  their new way of life.  Don't hide the Good News.  The secret is to be revealed.  They were to be the leaders and show others the Way.

He warned them that since they had been given the knowledge of the kingdom there were expectations that they use it.  Use it or He'll find someone else to share.  He expected them to share.

He reiterated that their job was to scatter the seed of the kingdom.  They really had nothing to do with the success of the seed sowing.  Just like the farmer, who sows the seed and then the seed grows whether the farmer sleeps or gets up.  The farmer can't force the seed to sprout and grow.  The farmer is responsible for planting the seed and collecting the harvest.

I have the opportunity to be in a study group using A.W. Tozer's book The Knowledge of the Holy. It is fabulous!  It makes God so much bigger! Chapter 9 in Tozer's book is on the immutability of God.  God does not change, He is holy, He is perfect.  In our constantly changing world He remains ever the same.  We lust for permanence but He is the only permanence.

Mark Chapter 4 reminded me that change happens and will continue to happen.  I jotted down  some points to remember when change enters my little world:

1.            God expects us to do our job, our God-given mission, regardless of how the world may evaluate.  The farmer still sowed the seed everywhere.  We are not to judge The Harvest, just sow the seed of the kingdom.

2.            The Kingdom is to be revealed, so share and don't hide it.

3.            Listen up to Him.  Several times in Chapter 4 Jesus tells His disciples to listen and hear.

4.            God expects us to change.  Conquer the thirst for permanence.

5.            The Kingdom is bigger and so  much better than we can think or imagine.

6.            Jesus wants us to know so ask Him to explain.

                Chapter 4 ends with a storm.  Jesus wants to head out in a boat.  While He is napping a storm comes, a storm so big that the seasoned fisherman fear for their lives.  They wake Jesus because they think He doesn't care if they drown.  He quiets the wind and the waves!  He asks them why they are so afraid and if they still lack faith.  They are terrified and ask "Who is this?  Even the wind and waves obey Him!"

                When the storms come into my life, and they have and will in the future, Jesus will be with me.  He has been preparing me.  To deal with change I am to trust Him.  He is the constant, the unchanging, the permanent.  This great "secret" of His permanence in this chaotic world of unmanageable change is not to stay a secret but to be shared.  Jesus will get me through the storms of life and my role is to let the world know He is the reason, and only reason, I survive the storm.