The Demon-Possessed Man Healed (Part Two)

He leads me …

We read in Mark 5:1-7 (NKJV)

“What have I to do with You, Jesus?”

Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”     

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There is an interesting passage in the account above that reads –

When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

In the New Life Version it reads –

“What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?’’

This is a place that ideally we should come to constantly, not just when we submit to Jesus as a new Christian. Jesus said that if we are to become His disciple then, ‘let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV)

In Mark chapter 10 we read of where Jesus was asked by a rich man how he could inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to follow the commandments. The man told Jesus that he had been doing this, and then asked, “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The man went away sad, because he could not face doing that.

Jesus pointed out to the disciples that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.  Having heard this, Peter tries to justify the disciple’s role by saying that, “We have left everything to follow you!”

According to Oswald Chambers[1] our motive for surrender to the Lord should not be for any personal gain. We can become so self-centred that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want You. I just want me. But I still want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Genuine total surrender is an overwhelming preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

While we may understand the feeling in these thoughts of Oswald Chambers, they may seem somewhat extreme. However, most of us can handle the thought that surrender means to hand over control of what we consider to be ours completely to the Lord.  This includes things like our property, our time and our "rights”. In doing this we will still discuss how these things affect us with God, even though He is ultimately in control of them.

Surrendering to God helps us to let go of whatever has been holding us back from God's best for our life. Are we living life on our terms, or are we living it on His terms? Are we able to seek and follow God’s will no matter what the cost is? (1 Thessalonians. 4:3).

If this looks hard, it is worth asking if there a downside to not surrendering?

In Matthew 16:25, we see a clear warning for failing to surrender to Christ -

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Quite simply, anyone who pursues their own interests and rejects God’s gift of Jesus Christ and the new life that follows, will live a shallow, meaningless life without Him. This will be followed by an eternity separated from Him. While ungodly people like this may choose to bless people with earthly riches, their works will not be enough to secure a place in Heaven.

As we continue to grow in our walk with the Lord, it becomes more natural and more necessary to surrender more of our lives to Him. Then we can know Him more closely and serve Him more effectively. This in itself will provide its own blessings which cannot be matched by anything that world has to offer.

[1] Oswald Chambers’ ministry of teaching and preaching took him for a time to the United States and Japan. The last six years of his life were spent as principal of the Bible Training College in London, and as a chaplain to British Commonwealth troops in Egypt during World War l. After his death, the books which bear his name were compiled by his wife from her own verbatim shorthand notes of his talks.