Daily Devotional | Tell Your Story

When something incredible happens to you, who do you tell first? Maybe you rush home to report the good news to your family. Or maybe you pick up the phone to call your best friend. Some of us snap a photo and declare the good news on social media.

It’s natural to want to share the good things in our life with those we love. And in today’s passage, we read an incredible story of life transformation, one too amazing to keep quiet for long. When Jesus encountered the Gerasenes demoniac, he met a man who was being torn apart from both outside and inside. He had been living in the dark among the tombs (v. 3). He displayed uncontrollable strength (vv. 3–4). Daily, he screamed for relief and was a danger to himself (v. 5). He was living with thousands of demons inside him (v. 9). He was an outcast as a threat to society, and Jesus now was his only hope.

Jesus received the man and cast the demons out of him. But the townspeople were not happy about it. Mark described the people as pleading with Jesus to leave their region in the same vein as the demons begged Jesus to go into the pigs rather than be cast into a far country. Certainly, the demons thought, Jesus would leave them alone to possess pigs. Certainly, the townspeople thought, Jesus would leave the town alone. He could welcome and heal the wretched elsewhere.

Interestingly, the healed man also begged Jesus—that he might remain with Him. But the same way Jesus deals with everyone whose life He transforms, He sent the man away to live righteously. The man received by Jesus, now in his right mind, would proclaim what Jesus had done.

Pray with Us

Janet Stiven, vice president and general counsel at Moody, welcomes your prayers for the team she leads at the Legal department. Ask the Lord to grant them wisdom and insight as they advise the MBI leadership on legal and public policy issues.

BY Dr. Eric C. Redmond

Dr. Eric C. Redmond serves as a professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and as associate pastor of adult ministries at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Ill. He is married to Pam and they have five children. He is the author of Say It!  Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition (Moody Publishers), Where Are All the Brothers? Straight Answers to Men's’ Questions about the Church (Crossway), a commentary on Jonah in the Christ-Centered Exposition Series (B&H Publishers), and a study guide on Ephesians in the Knowing the Bible series (Crossway).