Interfering


"With a shriek, he screamed, 'Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don't torture me!' For Jesus had already said to the spirit, 'Come out of the man, you evil spirit.' ... The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs ... A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. ... And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone." Mark 5:1-20


Some of us are one thing at a time type people. I'm the poster child. Getting focused is a challenge, but when I get there fire alarms and earthquakes are required to get my attention. Many times my wife has done jumping jacks in front of the TV to try to get my attention. Unfortunately, I typically don't handle the interference very well. I need to be a whole lot better at embracing it.

Mark records for us in great detail this story about Jesus interfering in the lives of quite a few people actually. A demon possessed man. Pig farmers. Crowds of people in the area. The demons. The disciples. It was a quite a scene. Jesus cast out the demons and saved the man. He sent the demons into the pigs who then drowned the pigs. The local crowds then told Jesus and his disciples to go away and leave them alone.

On the other hand, the man who had been set free begged Jesus to let him go with him and the disciples. The interfering work of Jesus doesn't hit us all the same does it? Some of us don't want to hear what Jesus has to say about our plans, our money, our relationships, our time, our children, our careers, our morals, our whatever. We want what we want when we want it. Jesus wants us to have what's best. Perhaps it's time for all of us to embrace a little more interference from him.

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