The Power of One

Have you ever noticed how new understanding can change a life, can even change the world? Maybe you've experienced this for yourself. Perhaps you have experienced the new dawn of a shattered old paradigm, the release from an old way of thinking.

In working our way through Mark 5:1-20 yesterday with my girls and my friend at what we call faithBuilders, God opened a new doorway to a deeper understanding. Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to encounter a demon-possessed man who was living in the burial caves in the region of the Gerasenes. This is the story where Jesus casts out the demons in this man into a herd of pigs...2,000 of them....and they run themselves off a cliff. Kind of reminds me of what recently happened in Egypt. No wonder the people in the nearby villages wanted Jesus to leave them.

Something interesting happens in this reading as it relates to this man, however. He wants to go with Jesus after he was released from this torment. Quite natural, I would say. Jesus responds, "Go back to your family and to your town and tell them everything I have done for you." Amazing. Reached in his region, sent back to his region. Sounds alot like "One Church, Regional Impact."

Here's the new learning for me, the new understanding that God gave me: The Power of One. Certainly Power in Jesus, the One, without whom none of this transformation is possible. But, also Power in that one man, released from his prison and sent to his region.

We were imagining how tough it might have been for him to go back to his family and share the good news about Jesus. Perhaps the family doubted if he had really been healed. Perhaps they were hesitant to trust him again. And what of the rest of the town? He lived in the burial caves for Pete sake! He was out of his mind living in a community of freaks! And he was dangerous; supernaturally strong, filled with rage, and the strength of many demons. It couldn't have been an easy calling to go back. Maybe that's why he wanted to go with Jesus in the first place.

He went nonetheless....back to his family, and into his neighborhood. The power of one.

sometimes I look to gather a crowd to do the work. Sometimes I wait for strength in numbers before I go. There is power in one person, transformed, set free, who goes in obedience to Jesus to tell people all that He has done for them.

You who have experienced this transforming power of Jesus, where is Jesus sending you today?