From Mess to Message

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. The devotional for today was written by James Banks.

He titled it, From Mess to Message. Darrell was a baseball legend who nearly destroyed his life with drugs. But Jesus set him free, and he's been clean for years. Today, he helps others struggling with addiction and points them to faith. Looking back, he affirms that God turned his mess into a message.

Nothing is too hard for God. When Jesus came ashore near a cemetery after a stormy night on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, a man possessed by darkness immediately approached him. Jesus spoke to the demons inside him, drove them away, and set him free. When Jesus left, the man begged to go along. But Jesus didn't allow it because he had work for him to do, telling the man in Mark 5, We never see the man again, but scripture shows us something intriguing. The people of that region had fearfully pleaded with Jesus to leave, but the next time he returned there, a large crowd gathered. Could the crowd have resulted from Jesus sending the man? Could it be that he, once dominated by darkness, became one of the first missionaries, effectively communicating Jesus' power to save? We'll never know this side of heaven, but this much is clear.

When God sets us free to serve him, he can turn even a messy past into a message of hope and love. Now, let's turn our eyes upon Jesus. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Mark 5, verses 1 through 20. and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.

No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

And God's name, don't torture me! For Jesus had said to him, Come out of this man, you impure spirit. Then Jesus asked him, What is your name?

My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, Send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs.

The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.

So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed. Now let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you have unbound us from the shackles of our sin, our waywardness, and our rejection of you. Today, Lord, help us not to serve anything lesser than you and to tell others about the good news that will set them free as well. And it's in Jesus' great and saving name we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.