RESTORING WHAT THE DEVIL TOOK

Luke 8:36-39

Luk 8:36 Those who had seen it told them how the man who had been demon-possessed had been healed.
Luk 8:37 Then all the people of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Jesus to leave them alone, because they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and left.
Luk 8:38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
Luk 8:39 “Return to your home, and tell them what God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him.

leave me alone (part three)

Jesus’ decision not to accept this man’s offer to join his support group was strategic. No one but this man, who had so badly terrorised his community, could demonstrate to them that the gospel changes lives. But Jesus’ decision was also therapeutic. There was one thing that the demons had taken from him which had not been restored by his healing. They had removed him from the friends and family he had enjoyed before they possessed him. Now, Jesus tells him to return to his home. Jesus wants him to enjoy the blessing of community again, in the very place where he had lost it.

LORD, show us how to love people out of their loneliness, to restore what Satan has stolen from them.