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self-examination. He then acknowledged that, and prayed to the Lord, sitting
in front of Him and asking to go with Him.
But the final step is to start a new life. And this doesn’t mean dropping our
current life and getting a new one, like leaving Decapolis and going across the
sea to the Holy Land. This means starting a new life within our current life.
We need now to live out our new faith and love within our current day-to-day,
amidst the rest of our problems, with our own effort. And so the man didn’t
go with the Lord, but he did bring the Lord to the people of that region, by
proclaiming all that Jesus had done for him. He began a new life.
So one of the important messages that we can take from the story of Legion
and the Pigs is the importance of self-examination – being able to externalize
the lies. Recognizing that our false ideas and destructive behaviors are not us;
they are simply hell trying to control us. We can let the Lord send them back
to where they belong.
The Lord’s truth helps us to externalize the false ideas and lies in our heads,
so that we can see them for what they really are – pigs that are trying to drag
us down. But they are not actually part of us. And if we g et help from the Lord
in prayer, in reading His Word, and with support from the people around us,
then we can work through those steps of repentance. We can experience the
Lord’s forgiveness, mercy and compassion. And we can begin a new life – a life
in our right mind, proclaiming the great things that the Lord has done for us.
“For false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the
Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:12,13)
The Rev. Solomon J. Keal is assistant to the pastor of the Bryn
Athyn Church and teaches in the Bryn Athyn Church School.
He is also known for his piano CDs, which feature many of
his own compositions. He and his wife, Tirah (Echols), live in
Huntingdon Valley with their four children.
Contact: [email protected]
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