“When Jesus got out of the boat, a
man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the
tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had
often been chained hand 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.”
Mark
5:1-5
We have
become a people who are possessed! Although it isn’t a demonic spirit that has
taken resident in our bodies, it is a demonic influence that has manipulated
our lifestyles and thought life. As I read Mark 5, about the man from Gadara
who was possessed by a legion of demons, I could not help to draw some correlations.
This man was bondage. They took away his freedom. They changed the way he
lived. Many said he was out of his mind!
And then I
thought… “Are we too not out of our minds”!
Proverbs
22:7 declares: “The borrower is servant
to the lender!”
Every time
we borrow money to pay for something we become slaves! Not by force, but by
choice! Why would we subject ourselves to such slavery? One word…POSSESSIONS!
We chain
ourselves up to have new vehicles, the latest clothes, the newest technology
and bigger homes! We plunge ourselves into debt, not realizing that it is a
curse. Debt is the curse of a people who have trusted in mammon (wealth). Moses
warned the people of Israel of this thousands of years ago in Deuteronomy 28:43-45:
“The alien who lives among you will
rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will
lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be
the tail.”
James, the
apostle, tried to warn the rich people in his day warning them in James 5:1:
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail
because of the misery that is coming upon you.”
They had begun
trusting in their wealth. James warned them that their wealth would rot, their
clothes would be eaten by moths and their gold and silver would corrode. They
were developing a “moth ball mentality”. Moth balls are used to preserve and
protect something we are unwilling to lose… regardless of how it makes us
smell. They were trying to preserve things that were temporary, fading and
wasting away.
It takes a
long time for gold and silver to corrode. To hold onto something, like gold and
silver, so long that it corrodes indicates deep seeded beliefs in the power of
wealth. James warns them:
“Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.” You have
hoarded wealth in the last days.”
James
5:3
This
unhealthy trust in wealth and possessions can lead to hoarding, dishonest gain,
self-indulgence and treating others unjustly.
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/
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