There’s a story which—at first glance—makes me look at Jesus and say, “What were you thinking?” It’s in Luke’s account (Ch. 8), the story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man.
A quick refresher. Jesus calms the sea, then when he and the disciples get to the other side, waiting for them is an absolute whack-job of a man with brutish, chain-breaking strength who terrorizes everyone. He’s naked as a jaybird, yelling at everyone.
When Jesus shows up, the man falls at Jesus’ feet, begging Jesus not to torment him. In short, Jesus expels the man’s demons into a herd of pigs, who then jump off a cliff. The man suddenly becomes sane, and asks the question any of us would, “Jesus, can I come with you?”
This makes sense, right? But incredibly, Jesus said, “No.” He sent the man away, telling him to return to his house and tell others what God—through Jesus–did for him.
Weird. It looks like Jesus is choosing favorites, saying—like Jerry Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi—“No boat for you!” But at 1st Faith, we see something amazing in this moment. Jesus is telling this man, “All you need is your story. Just tell it.”
Today, it’s easy to focus on learning the right verses, or crafting the correct arguments to convince others to believe. It’s intimidating. Soon, we decide sharing our faith just isn’t our thing. But perhaps, all we need is our story.
In the end, this guy went out and told “the whole city” what Jesus did for him. I bet people listened and a lot of hearts turned.
The lesson? Our stories of faith encourage others, and can change lives. This platform—1stFaith—is for you, to tell stories.
Here, we don’t ask only the perfect, or the smartest, to share stories. We want stories from real people living real life. Transparent people, like the man in Luke 8. Getting in the boat wasn’t for him. Because he had all he needed—his own story.
Remember a time when your faith grew? Tell us at 1stFaith. Together, let’s change the world—with your story.
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