God chose who to be on His team?

This will be our third and final week of some thoughts about a man in the bible book of Mark chapter 5 that is described as having an evil spirit. We have camped out in a couple of thoughts thus far. First, be alert to our enemy the devil. We don't know how this man that lived in the tombs came to have the evil spirit, but it was real and can still be real. Second we watched as the people saw some crazy things happen to a group of pigs that Jesus sent the evil spirits into. And as the people recount the story to their friends, they see the man with the evil spirit completely transformed, sitting in his right mind, a different man BECAUSE HE HAD ENCOUNTERED JESUS. And as they consider the weight and power of one who can literally change the entirety of a man, they tell Jesus that they want Him to leave their town. Heavy. Sad. Real. I think this happens in hearts like mine everyday. "Jesus. You're too much. Get out!"

Let's visit this story one more time this week. Let's not miss the obvious, amazing reality of this interaction. Jesus is a HEALER! This man in the bible book of Mark chapter 5 with the evil spirit is described as a bloody, screaming, living among the dead mess. He encounters Jesus, while still hosting this legion of evil spirits....AND JESUS RULES AND REIGNS OVER EVIL in the man's life. He is completely changed! Thanks be to God.

And this next line in chapter 5 and verse 18 of this story makes so much sense to me...and is so beautiful. "As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man WHO HAD BEEN DEMON POSSESSED begged to go with Him (Remember those capital letters as we close in a minute)! Of course he wanted to go with Jesus. Jesus changed his life. But surprisingly to the man, Jesus tells him no. Wow. Anticlimactic bummer. "This could be great! I travel around with you and tell people how you changed my life!" "No," Jesus says. "I am sending you as a changed man to tell that very same story that you want to tell along with me." And so Jesus sends the man to a ten city region filled with people who have never heard about the love and power of Jesus. He is literally the first "missionary" (one who tells people about God) sent to that area.

So who did God choose to be on His team? A man who had been a demon possessed man. Later God would send a man named Paul to do the same thing. Paul had been a man who persecuted and killed Christians. Much earlier God chose a man named David who had been an adulterer to be King over a nation of people. He chose a man named Moses who had once been a murderer to lead His people.

I notice that it is so hard to not wear the labels of all my bloody, screaming failures as my identity. But God seems to choose the "has beens"...the demon possessed, murdering, adultering ones and gives them new identity. What is that new identity? He must be crazy to choose someone like you, someone like me? Our identity is heavenly realistic. God says, "You're MESSY and MINE."

All of us are those WHO HAVE BEEN DEAD and God is now powerfully saying...YOU ARE ALIVE AND YOU ARE MINE. Ask Him to change your life!

Thanks be to God.

There's more.