"And when (Jesus) had come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him. 19. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but said unto him, Go home to your friends and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you.”
The incident referred to in the text is the encounter that Jesus had with the man who was demon possessed and ran naked and wild among the tombs. After Jesus had rid the man of the demons, it was natural that he would want to follow Jesus, but Jesus did not tell him to follow Him as He did His disciples. He told the man to go back to his home and share with others the miracle that he had experienced. Because of what happened to the man, he was given the responsibility of sharing it. This is a good lesson for us. We need to share with others what Jesus has done for us. Jesus told the man to go home to his friends. Can you imagine the surprise of the man’s friends when they saw him “clothed and in his right mind.” They would obviously be curious about what had happened to return him to sanity. The last time they saw the man he was out of control, now he had been changed. We have heard many stories about people who lived wild lives and were changed by the gospel, and about how surprised the people who knew them were. They noticed the change in him and wondered what had happened. It might be that you did not live a “wild” life before you were saved, but Jesus has done a work in your life, and He wants you to tell people about what He did, and is doing, for you. We are not told how the man’s friends reacted to his new life, but I imagine that, among other things, they wanted to know what happened to bring about this change. Whether the change is dramatic, as in the case of the demoniac, or undramatic, the reason for the change in our lives needs to be shared. Jesus told the man to tell his friends “what great things the Lord had done for (him).” Surely, Jesus has done something in your life that needs to be told. The “great things” that Jesus does for us might not be as dramatic as this story, or the experience of Paul, but He wants us to share them with others. You might not have a sensational story to tell, but you do have a story. We all have a story about what Jesus has done in our lives. We can share how Jesus replaced the depression and fear that we felt and gave us a new outlook on life. We can share how Jesus changed our relationships with people. Before Jesus touched our lives, we might have been afraid of people, felt inferior to them, or just did not like them. But when Jesus touched our lives, He changed our relationships. People will notice a difference in how we relate to them. We can share how Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, helped us begin to understand the scriptures. There is no limit to the things that we can share with others about the “great things” that Jesus has done in our lives. No matter how mundane our “great things” might seem to us as compared to those of the demoniac, the Lord can still use them to lead others to Himself. Jesus has done a work in your life that He wants you to share. Go to people and tell them about what Jesus has done for you, that He loves them and has compassion for them. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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