I have always loved the show, “My Fair Lady”. An uneducated and unsophisticated girl who earns her living selling flowers on the street is turned into a case study. The professor begins teaching her proper English and manners. All of this is for a bet that he can pass her off as royalty at the ball. The transformation which occurs is amazing!
Jesus often encountered people and transformed them. Mark 5 records one of the most dramatic encounters when Jesus delivers a man from being possessed by a legion of demons. After the change, we find the following conclusion of the story:
Mark 5:17-20 “Then they began to beg Him to leave the region. As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Him to be with Him. But He would not let him; instead, He told him, ‘Go back home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.'”
Jesus here set out a vital principle in conversion. The demon possessed man wanted to follow Jesus, a noble goal. However, the Master’s plan was for him to stay and be a witness in the very area he had once terrorized. People would see the changed life and believe even more. The transformation would be his greatest tool in sharing Christ with his neighbors.
Jesus still transforms us and leaves us in our communities to be a witness wherever the Lord has us. As we go through life, our behavior, words, attitudes, etc should point people to Jesus. We have the same mission. As we live for Him, we can make a change in our community. As v. 20 says, “they were all amazed.”
May God use us to amaze our neighbors and win more to the faith.
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Ramblings by James 