Go Tell Everyone

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

GO TELL EVERYONE

Luke 8:34-39

34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

NIV

Why would the people of that region be so afraid because this man who had been so possessed by demons was cured? Did all those people think that Jesus was going to drive the demons out of them too? That could not be right, for they were simply normal people, not like this man who acted so crazy and lived in the tombs. But why so much fear. Perhaps they were just sinful people who enjoyed their sinful lives and did not want Jesus to interfere with their way of life. If he had the power to drive out demons from this man, they may have thought he had the power to drive out the sin from their lives. We wonder how many people today do not want anything to do with Jesus for the same reason. How many people today enjoy their sinful lives? We have to be truthful about sin, for the most part, it is enjoyable for the moment. But living in sin has to have some effect on a person’s inner being, for we all have the knowledge of God within us. Every human being has that knowledge, but those who prefer to live in sin have suppressed that truth within them, we know from experience having lived in sin, that we were still aware of God, even though we may have voiced the opinion we did not believe in God, or that there was a God. However, when faced with the choice, when confronted with the thought of death or life, we had to choose life and the only way, after a careful search through other paths, found only the one way to life and that was through Jesus Christ. This is what this demon-possessed man found, life through Jesus Christ and he wanted to go with Jesus and follow him wherever he went, but Jesus had another plan for this man. True, in one sense this man was still following Jesus, by returning home and telling how much God did for him. Jesus was always about telling the good news about the kingdom of God, and this man was to tell how God did so much for him, doing the same that Jesus did. That is our story, we follow Jesus, not in the physical sense that man wanted to, but in a spiritual sense, telling how much God did for us. Maybe some of us get confused about what our testimony is, but telling all the things that we do for Jesus, instead of telling all the things Jesus has done for us. We have been in churches where that is the testimony of the church, how much they do in the community for Jesus, but they never told how much Jesus did for the church. No, our testimony is all about him much Jesus has done for us. We can never stop telling our story, from where we were, and how Jesus came into our lives, and saved us from the penalty of sin, and gave us eternal life. But that was just the beginning for Jesus has been doing great things in our lives. Everything we have, all that we are, the transformation that has happened within us, and the calling he has upon us is marvelous, wonderful and we have been filled to the brim, in fact, to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, first, in that he has revealed all truth to us, and second, he gives us that glow, that refection of the glory of God in every increasing glory. Then on top of all that He has provided us with so much we just have to tell everyone about Jesus. We have to tell how much God has done for us.