READING: Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:28-34, Luke 8:26-39, Mark 5:21-43, Matthew 9:18-26, Luke 8:40-56
I’m certain I would have wanted to do exactly what the man in Mark 5:1-20 wanted to do. Had I been thoroughly demon possessed, recurrently shackled with chains, living among the tombs, screaming in the day and night, and gashing myself with stones, I would have been most miserable—that is, until the Son of God showed up.
Jesus cast out the demons and restored the man to his right mind. He was dramatically changed when Jesus worked, and he wanted to do what I would have wanted to do: he “begged him earnestly that he might remain with him” (Mark 5:18). That was not Jesus’ plan, however. He did not want the man simply to hang out with Him; instead, He sent him back to his region to announce all that Jesus had done for him.
I am reminded today that while we are indeed privileged to spend time with Jesus, He still sends us to our neighbors and the nations. Only hanging out with Him is not a Great Commission move.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you need to go to your home territory and proclaim the name of Jesus?
DAILY PRAYER: “Jesus, I want to hang out with You, but I hear Your call to go. Help me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Matthew 9:27-34, Mark 6:1-6, Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 9:35-38, Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-6