The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
Luke 8:35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Interesting! The man who was in his wrong mind was now in his right mind but the people who thought that they were in their right mind may have been in their wrong mind. They were afraid because of the results of God working in this so-called “maniac of Gadara.” Certainly, to one extent or another everyone is afraid of the unknown, and especially of the unknown power of God working in someone’s life, but the perfect love of God casts out all fear (I John 4:18). People who love God with all their minds are able to be in their right minds.
This maniac was not in his right mind when he was roaming the graveyard, when he was unable to be controlled by restraints, or when he was hurting himself, his family and his friends by his crude actions. But after Christ healed him, saved him, this man loved the Savior to the point that he was willing to follow Christ wherever He would go. We find this wild man fellowshipping with Jesus, sitting at His feet, submitting to the One who delivered him from the awful fate of a continued wasted life. Make no doubt the Bible is true when in the previous chapter of Luke (7:47) it says, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little (speaking of the woman who washed the Lord’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair). Yes, those who have much forgiven love the Lord much, and those who love Him much can have fear cast away. They are able to be in their right mind.
Speaking of much, how much is much? Lest ye feel that others can love the Lord more than you because He saved them from some such awful place understand this. When you trusted Christ as your sacrifice for sin, He forgave all your sin. All is everything. Everything is much, in fact you can’t get any more from the word much than all. No matter the scope, depth, or tense (past, present, or future) of your sin, God has, or can, forgive all. As the hymnist said, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed me white as snow.” Upon understanding this you can love Him much because He has forgiven much, in fact, He has forgiven all. That truth can bring right mindedness to anyone who will accept it.
So, take away an edge from “A nude dude in a rude mood” (the maniac of Gadara) you can be in a right state of mind. How? The catchall truth of Matthew 6:33 is how: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Jesus said it, the maniac of Gadara illustrates it, and every child of God can live it: a right mind.
William T. Howe, Ph.D.