August 14th

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

            He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath.  They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.  In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm.  They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!”  And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.

Luke 4: 31-37

           

            What’s the best teaching that you have ever heard?  Has there been a talk, a lecture, a study that you were a part of that forever altered your heart and your mind and your life?

            This life has provided me the opportunity to listen to a multitude of amazing teachers.  There are TED talks, there have been remarkable teachers and professors, guest speakers and deeply moving books, not to mention countless sermons.  I have listened to some of the greatest and most influential speakers of the modern era and yet my best experiences have always been more about the teacher than the official material. 

            Leighton Ford was a contemporary of Billy Graham.  He came to speak at a staff conference that I attended one year.  I have no idea what he said.  I cannot remember a single speech or three point message that he gave.  What I remember was the character that he exuded.  He personified wisdom and graciousness and depth of relationship with Jesus that was everything that I was hungry for.  Every conversation that we had left me feeling like I had become more of the man that I had been created to be.

            Luke wrote about Jesus doing some teaching.  The crowd did not debate His positions.  They did not argue about his semantics.  They marveled at His authority.  Jesus spoke not as someone who knew stories about God…but as someone who was deeply connected with God.  He was not throwing out theories and logical conclusions; He was testifying about what He had seen and heard and experienced.  It blew people away.  Then he encountered someone who was oppressed by a spiritual power.  The demon’s statement was simply a confirmation…Jesus was the authority over all creation.  It was silenced and cast out and forced to relinquish it’s hold on the man because Jesus simply told it to leave.

            Our ideas about authority tend to revolve around our parents or a respected mentor that we have had in our lives.  They are pale shadows of the authority of Jesus.  The One who sought us out and gave himself so that we might live is the same one who calmed a storm with a word and raised Lazarus from the dead.  Our advocate, our High Priest, our Champion is not someone who merely hopes that things turn out okay for us.  He is the power of God that holds all Creation in the palm of His hand.  He is stronger than poverty. He is stronger than alcohol.  He is stronger than autism.  He is stronger than depression.  He is stronger than broken relationships.  He is stronger than FAS.

            When we worry and stress and clench our fists and our jaws to keep from exploding, we are forgetting that our biggest fan is also the irresistible force of the cosmos.  The One who called us and gave us our children in the first place is also the One who is able to deliver us and sustain us through the trials of life.

            Jesus is Authority.  Jesus is power.  Sometimes we forget about the attributes of the man as we focus on the wisdom of His words.  He was, is and always will be the strongest force in creation.

            And He loves you.

                        And He loves your child.

                                    And there is not a thing that this world could throw at either of you that can tear Him away from your side. 

            This journey through life is long and it is hard…and every step of the way we are accompanied by our Champion.

           

A moment to reflect:

Where do you most feel the need to see Jesus’ power in your day to day life?