Devotionals

---

During the summer, it is customarily the time for family reunions. There are other smaller gatherings held in the fall or spring with my family, but it is during the months of May to August that we have those huge, bring-a-casserole, look-forward-to-seeing-all-of-those-distant-cousins, try-to-remember-all-the-names-of-everyone-who-has-ever-held-you-as-a-baby reunions. There are some things which will always happen: I’ll get bit by a bunch of bugs, I’ll eat a lot, and (I know this sounds morbid, but it’s true.) I’m going to be surprised that someone is still alive. (Think about it, each year there’s a great-grand fill-in-the-blank who you’re real impressed is still kickin’.)
I’ll also see those relatives that I didn’t want anyone in school to find out I was “kin” to. In addition to them, there will be that crazy uncle or aunt that my mom and dad tried to keep me away from. You know those people. Everyone’s had them in their family tree. They were the ones who may have dropped out of school, at some point got arrested, lived somewhere else in the country if not outside of the country, and at some point said to you, “Well, we just won’t tell your mom and dad.”
A mixture of feelings can come from a family reunion. We may be reminded of how much we love our relatives. We may be reminded of why we are the way we are. We may be glad to get out of there, especially if you have a date. (Don’t do this, as a standard rule. You better be sure that you’re secure in your relationship with the other person because they will meet all of the aforementioned individuals in your family tree in addition to hearing at least a couple of poopy diaper stories about you.) One thing that a family reunion does reveal is our roots. We see where we came from and, for better or for worse, how we have been shaped as people.
At some point, we made/make a decision to be our own person. An outside agent (person, circumstance, event, etc.) forces us to take stock in who we are as a person. It is from there that we begin the road on which we will be shaped into the individual that we will become.. Even though those influences from our family are still there, we are now making our own decisions about what to do with ourselves. Sometimes the “agent” may be so overwhelming that we want to go back to when things were “normal”. We don’t want the disturbances or the shakeup in our safe world as we know it.
Jesus had the same effect on people. He still does. In encountering Him, we make a decision whether or not to accept the difference He can make in our life, or to just continue on as we’ve done for so long. Believe it or not, even after witnessing a miracle or a great movement of God, we still act like we aren’t convinced, and instead wish that we could be in our own previous stagnant Christianity, because the new stuff is just a little too challenging. It’s just a little to sacrificial. It’s just a little to earth-shattering. It’s just a little too Jesus.
In Mark 5:1-20, Jesus encountered a man who desperately needed his help. This man was inhabited by demons which caused him to live among tombs, crying out constantly, and cutting himself with stones. This was the kind of guy who could really drive down your property value if he was too close. Jesus heals the man, and later on he is seen in his right mind having a conversation. The demons who were in him had been sent into some pigs, which immediately went and drowned themselves. The owners of the pigs and other witnesses were “afraid” at what they saw.
Excuse me, but what was that? Afraid? Sure, it might be a little freaky to see a herd of pigs make a mad dash for the lake like a hippie to a hackeysack store, but shouldn’t they have been at least a little bit impressed? Unfortunately, this was not the case. The demonstration of the holy power within Jesus had scared them. Perhaps they were afraid of the religious teachers. Perhaps they didn’t want to have anything to do with the supernatural. Maybe they were scared that their pork-belly stock had been wrecked for that quarter.
Another option is that they reacted the way so many of us do when encountering the power of Christ. We shrink back. We’re actually afraid of the change. There’s something going on which may cause us to go on a new path, give some things up, but then start on a series of new adventures that take us out where we have grown accustomed. Acts 3:19 says that to repent brings refreshing from the Lord. “Refreshing” refers to the fact that something new is taking place. There is a new “agent” which is changing our lives.
Just as we are shaped by our families and then change at some point, we are changed by an encounter with Jesus. It may be from just hearing about him and deciding he’s not for us. It may be to accept him as the one we turn to for answers. It may be to decide to constantly follow him no matter the sacrifices or stumbles we experience along the way. Whatever our response may be, we still make a decision...a life-changing one.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE