1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 3 - Blessed are those who mourn | Page 9

Friday
Reading: Mark 5 v 1 – 20
Today we focus on a very beautiful role that the Comforter (Holy Spirit) takes
upon Himself.
#7: The Comforter Celebrates your release from the Cave of guilt and shame. At
this particular point I need to say a few words about guilt. I know that many
people, teachers, parents, preachers, use guilt as a tool to help motivate change.
Guilt, I have to tell you, is a lousy motivator to make people change. There is only
One who uses guilt well and that is the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit lays guilt
upon you then you’d better respond appropriately, because if you do not then
very subtly your guilt will turn into a more insidious evil, that of shame. Shame
is a hopeless position where people get totally stuck in their supposed inability
to make the changes necessary to do life better; guilt, leading to shame, causes
people socially, psychologically and spiritually to find a “cave” to hide in. They
think that this “cave” will protect them. Many people live in this “cave” until one
day Jesus calls them out. I refer you, at this point, to the story of Lazarus, who in
a state of total physical hopelessness, was dead. But at the call of Jesus, life
returned and with all of the bindings and the bandages he made his way to the
entrance of the cave. Jesus, seeing the battle that he was having to walk and
move freely with all the bindings, instructed His disciples to remove them and
set him free from those bindings. I love this picture because it is typical of
people for whom Jesus does the same. People who have not handled their guilt
well and instead of responding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, they compound
their guilt and never truly repent. This guilt escalates to the point of shame and
they retreat into their “cave”. Jesus, however, wants to call you out of that “cave”,
release you from the bindings of guilt and shame and restore you to a
meaningful life.
In Mark 5 we have another incident of Jesus calling someone from a cave. This
man was a demon-possessed man. The demons had haunted his mind and
affected his behaviour so greatly that for him the only place to be was in
isolation away from people. The people were petrified of him; they did not know
how to handle such a person. The day Jesus arrived at his cave for him was a
great day. Jesus called him out of the cave, sent the demons from him, and gave
him a purpose in recalculating his life. This story could become your story too if