“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being which has come into being.  In Him was life . . . .” (John 1:1-4a)

Life . . . I have come to see over the years that we humans are all very much alike when it comes right down to it.   It is deceptive, because outwardly we look so different, so unique, so customized.   On the surface, everything is so complex — billions of people, going countless different directions, pursuing everything imaginable.  But underneath it all, in the human heart, we are identical.  We share one longing, one ambition, one thirst — life.  We all want it.  We call it different things — happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, love, purpose.   And we identify and target specific attributes of it — pleasure, peace, joy, contentment, self esteem.  But we all crave it.  This is the dream that we share in common — the desire to be filled up.  Exactly what this means and what it looks like, we aren’t sure.  If we were sure, we’d have already attained it.  But we know what it would feel like, and we know that we still lack it.  So with one mind, all of us, from every tribe, tongue, and nation continu to dream about and long for one thing . . . utopia . . . paradise . . . heaven . . . life.

Deep down we all know this is true.  We know there is more to this life than we’ve come to understand and experience.  Something big is missing.  Something really, really big.  Down through the centuries, those who came before us tried everything.  There is nothing new under the sun.  As a race, we’ve tried the pursuit of every form of pleasure, popularity and respect, creativity and the arts, technology, recreation, conquest, the acquisition of power, altruism, the accumulation of wealth and “stuff”, philosophy and religion of every form we could dream up, family, politics,  . . . the list could go on for a long, long time.  All of the great minds that have lived on this planet have applied themselves to this pursuit.  And what have we gained from it all?  How much more “filled” are we today, with all of our technological advances, our education, our enlightenment, our wealth, our “stuff”?  Let’s face it — we are no better than those who came before us.  Just like them, we are still left with empty hearts and we no clue what to fill them with.  And worst of all . . . definitely worst of all . . . it appears that no one has the answer.

We are lacking and we know it.  And that makes us vulnerable — to the latest “get happy quick” scheme, to manipulative advertisers, to religious “gurus”, to stupid choices and deception of the worst kind.  Like sheep without a shepherd, we are hungry and thirsty, but we cannot take care of ourselves.  We are in need . . . uncomfortable but undeniable need . . . for help.

But what if . . . just what if . . . help did come . . . but we did not know it . . . or did not understand it . . . or could not accept it?  What if “life” was delivered right to our door, but it looked so different from what we expected it to look like that we dismissed it and left it sitting there on the front steps?  What if our preconceived ideas of what “life” would look like are so wrong, so misplaced, that we couldn’t recognize it if it came up and shook our hand and introduced itself?

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”  (John 1:4-5)

What if worse still . . . “life” came to our door and introduced itself, and we rejected it?  What if the inadequate things and false perceptions that we had based our lives on in our vain attempt to find life on our own, prevented us from being able to accept “life” when we looked it in the eye?  What if in order to embrace it, we had to let go of other things that we held too dearly, so we said “no.”  What if we chose “death” over “life” because of our own spiritual blindness . . . ignorance . . . stupidity?

“He came to those who were His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”  (John 1:11)

Let me ask you a question.  Don’t answer this question quickly.  Think about it.  Be totally honest with yourself?  Do you have “life”?  I’m not asking you theoretically, or theologically, or abstractly.  I’m asking you practically . . . experientially . . . in your daily life.  Do you have “life”?  Do you feel full?  Are the attributes of “life” constant companions in your life?  You know — peace, joy, contentment, satisfaction, purpose, hope, etc.?  Most people will immediately say “no”.  Still others, their theology doesn’t want them to say “no”, because they think that they ought to be able to say “yes”, but if they are totally honest, the answer is “no”.

Do you want to be able to say “yes”?  Do you want “life”?  Abundant life in all of its fullness?

Then I direct you to my favorite author.  His name is John.  His last name is unimportant.  He wrote a short treatise on “life”.  In fact, he uses the word 39 times in his book.  He says that life has come to this planet, and that it is available to all of us — not in the future, but right now — starting today and lasting into eternity.  Here is his expressed purpose for writing:

” . . these have been written . . . so that you may have life . . .”

Let me be humbly honest with you.  I have “life”.  I had “theoretical life” for a long time.  I had “supposed-to-have-it-because-of-what-I-believe” life for a long time.  But I did not have experiential “life”.  That changed when I met John and let him lead me to “life”.   It wasn’t something that I was able to just pick up and have.  I had to dig for it, hunt for it, wrestle with it, and change my mind over it (it was not what I was expecting it to look like).  But in the end, I got it.  Or should I say, I started getting it.  It is something that I’ve grown in over the last two decades of my life, and look forward to growing in more in the future.  Why?  Because it is everything that I (and you, too — all of us humans) have been looking for my entire life.  It makes me feel alive, day-in and day-out.  I want more.  And the beautiful thing about it is — it wants me to have more.

So I leave you with this thought . . . the very words of “life” itself:  “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

And this challenge . . . don’t quit, don’t relent, don’t ease up for even a moment until you have “life”.  He wants you.  And you’ll find Him, in John’s book — the Gospel of John.  But don’t let it stop in your head, or you’ll miss it.  It’s not “life” when it’s still in your head.  It’s not “life” until it’s in your . . . you guessed it . . . life.

Throughout all of the history of mankind, who had it the worst? Who was the person that you can think of who had it worse off than anyone else? Who would you at least nominate for a chance at the award?

I nominate a man who lived amongst the Gerasenes, on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. This man was physically possessed by an entire army of demons. We’re talking fallen angels, followers of the chief of demons, Satan himself. This company of evil warriors completely ruined this man’s life. Can you imagine living in a body that was completely under the control of a whole army of demons. He was a complete and helpless captive within his own body. This created a terrible danger to both himself and others. The townspeople had tried to bind him in order to protect them and him. It failed. They tried many times. It always failed. The demons gave him superhuman strength. No chains or shackles could hold him. He just shattered them. That in itself is amazing. Can you think of the pain that it would inflict upon your body to break through shackles? Your bones might make it through in one piece, but your skin would be ripped to shreds — and the muscle underneath would be crushed and punctured and genarally ripped up as well — probably all of the way to the bone. How do you spell, “no medical care”? The pain and the arduous healing process would be indescribable.

They could not contain him, so instead they drove him away. He lived out on his own, among the tombs – naked and homeless. That in itself would be bad enough — to be totally alone, rejected by everyone, deprived of any and all human companionship, with only the company of the demons who owned you. No love. No kindness. But then to live amongst the tombs — like being in a graveyard, only worse. At least in a graveyard, the bodies are buried. If he got into the tombs, the bodies were wrapped and laid out to rot away. The stench! The grotesqueness! Constantly surrounded by death.

His situation was entirely hopeless. He could not even kill himself to gain relief from it. He was the demons’ home — so they kept him alive. He was in such pain and agony at every level — emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically — that the only relief he could gain was to scream at the top of his lungs and beat himself with stones. And this he did . . . day and night . . . day in and day out. Have you ever been in such pain that it gave you relief to slap yourself, or pinch yourself, or cause yourself some other form of pain? That was this man’s normal existence. There have been many many people in terrible situations that you and I would not want to experience. I cannot imagine it getting any worse than this. As bad . . . maybe. Worse . . . I don’t think so.

So what happened? He met the One for whom there is no such thing as impossible situation. One day, Jesus led His disciples into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee and land on the shore right near the tombs where this man roamed. The demons had no problem identifying who Jesus was. They immediately ran the man over to Jesus and bowed before Him and begged for His mercy. You see, demons have a keen sense of authority. They pay attention to chain of command much better than humans do. And the demons knew that Jesus had complete authority over them. He had already kicked them out of heaven. He could send them to their final resting place in the abyss any time He wanted. So they pleaded with Him not to do so.

Jesus did not have to drive them out. This entire army of demons left, voluntarily, as soon as Jesus gave them permission to do so. This hopeless situation, which mankind could do nothing about, fixed itself at the mere presence of Jesus. How powerful were these demons? There were so many of them and they were so powerful that 2000 pigs were plunged to their death as the result of the demons entering them. Do you know how much power it takes to control 2000 pigs? Even a single pig? That is the power that was controlling this man’s life . . . until He met Jesus. Or should I say, until Jesus sought him out.

The man was never the same again. When the townspeople arrived a short time later to check things out for themselves (those herding the pigs ran and told them what had happened), they found the man competely free of the demons, fully dressed, and in his right mind. As a result, they were terrified. They did not want to deal with that kind of power and authority. So they begged Jesus to leave.  But the man was free from that day forward.  He went on to do great things for God as the first to take the good news of Jesus to the gentiles.

The worst situation that I can imagine, and it had a happy ending. Can you believe it? A happy ending! So how bad do you have it? Could it be worse? Definitely. Has it been worse for others before you? Without a doubt. Is there any such thing as an impossible situation? Not when you are with Jesus. Does He promise to deliver you out of all of your problems? Definitely not. In fact, He promises that you’ll have problems. But He does promise to be with you, to see you through, to use it for your good, and to help shape you into His likeness.

What does this say about Jesus’ authority? There is no such thing as an impossible situation when Jesus is around. He has total authority over the spiritual realm. Nothing happens in that realm without His permission. He can take Satan’s best shot without falter, cast out demons, open eyes to see, set you free, place His Spirit within you . . . . Is this your Jesus? Do you see Him this way? Do you count on Him to be this way? In the midst of your trials, what do you do? Where do you turn? To whom do you look? You will never face a truly impossible situation . . . if you are with Jesus.

Are you with Jesus? Are you following this man?

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^“They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. And they began to implore Him to leave their region. As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.” (Mark 5:1-20)

On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”  (Mark 4:35-41)

It was evening . . . growing dark. Jesus had spent the day by the Sea of Galilee teaching the masses. Now it was time to go. He told His disciples that they would be going over to the other side of the sea. They took Him in the boat and headed out. Stop. Many of these twelve men who were with Jesus were experienced, professional, fishermen. They had spent their entire lives on the Sea of Galilee. They knew that this was not a particularly wise idea for them to get into a boat and cross over at this moment — and for a whole number of reasons, none of which Mark tells us. We don’t need to know. But Jesus knew. He knew what was about to happen. He wanted it to happen. He deliberately set up the situation to unfold just as it was about to in order to train these men to be His disciples. Are you a disciple of Jesus? Then you need to pay attention.

As they head into the night, the wind kicks in. This is no normal wind. This wind is so strong that it kicks up huge waves that pound over the side of the boat. In spite of the disciples’ best efforts to fight them, the waves begin to swamp the boat with water. The waves are just too high and powerful. They do everything that they know how to do. But they come to their wits end. It is hopeless. The boat is filling with water and they cannot stop it. An impossible situation is upon them. They are about to die, and they know it.

And there is Jesus . . . asleep? What? How? On a cushion, in the back of the boat, which is rocking wildly up and down and back and forth. He’s getting sprayed by the crazy crashing waves, and blown by the powerful wind. But He is asleep? Once again, this is a setup. He knows what is going on. He’s just waiting for them.

The disciples came to Him and in terror said, “Don’t you care that we are dying?” No prayer here. No looking to Him to deliver them. No confidence in Him to be able to handle the situation. Just accusation that He must not care that they are all about to die.

What happened next makes me speechless. Jesus spoke to the wind. Just as a parent would talk to their child, or a master would talk to his slave . . . Jesus spoke to the wind as one who was under His authority. “Hush! Be still!” How many times did your parents say that to you when you were growing up. Jesus says it to the wind. And what happens next is even more amazing. The wind obeyed . . . instantly . . . and completely. The sea went from uncontrolled chaos and certain death, to total stillness and complete calm . . . just like that. Like glass.

What does this say about Jesus’ authority? There is no such thing as an impossible situation when Jesus is around. He has total authority over nature – over the creation. He can make it do (or not do) anything that He wants any time that He wants. He can walk on water, change water to wine, multiply fish and loaves of bread, cause a tree to wither . . . make His creation do anything He wants. Is this your Jesus? Do you see Him this way? Or do you think this in your head, but when push comes to shove you don’t expect Him to come through? Just like the disciples – do you think He doesn’t care about your troubles?

This life is filled with impossible situations. You will face many seemingly impossible situations which you yourself can do absolutely nothing about — just as these fishermen were able to do nothing about this situation. When it happens, what will you do? Where will you turn? Who will you look to? You will never face a truly impossible situation . . . if you are with Jesus.
Are you with Jesus? Are you following this man?