Mathew 8: 28-34
Gadara, the town that rejected the Son of God. Well, they didn’t quite know He was the Son of God. He was the strange man, who came around doing things different. Like chasing demons into a flock of swine and drowning them. Imagine. Whoever saw that?
And so, not ready to tolerate such stunts, the town of Gadara asked the Savior of the whole world to leave. . . actually they begged him to leave.
What made them more uncomfortable, drowning pigs or seeing a demon delivered man? Was it fear? Or was it just a resistance to change? Or were the pigs a lot more important? All resistance to change is rooted in fear though – fear of the unknown. Probably fear of a life without the income from their swine. Fear that made them exchange the Saviour for swine.
Such reticence. Before I bash them too hard, I have to search my heart first. Am I Gadaran too? Have I asked the Saviour to leave for fear He’ll change the way things are done around here ( my heart and my life?) or have I just resisted Him in His efforts at changing me?
The Saviour brings progress. . the Bible records He went about doing good every where He went. Sometimes progress is uncomfortable and unfamiliar. Sometimes, progress is a lot of work. Sometimes progress is the Savior prompting us to give up hours of precious sleep that we may spend time nurturing our relationship with him. Sometimes it may mean giving up hardset habits as we conform to His image, sometimes it may mean doing something we’re not very used to, like speaking to large crowds about Jesus, or witnessing to a colleague, giving when we feel like hoarding, or loving unfriendly people, or confronting our attitudes or whatever. Point is, when we give Him unhindered access in our lives, He changes things in our lives, He changes us. He rarely leaves us the same way He met us, but the change is always for good! He’s called the Unchanging Changer
Sooner or later, a change wielding Saviour is goina want to shake things in your life up a little bit. Will you be a Gadaran? Will be reticent and beg him to leave? Or will you accept His changes gladly?
Shalom.
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