Change & Chains

A new year always brings a fresh focus on change. For 99% of the people wanting it today, no matter how hopeful or motivated, it will be elusive, yet again. But why?

Real and lasting change comes only in and through desperation. And we run from being desperate, from appearing desperate, even pretending we aren’t when we are.

We cannot arrive at this state until we come to the end of our selves and our resources. Yet we view this as a horrible and hopeless place because answers seem to be non-existent and we have nowhere left to turn.

But with Jesus Christ, this is the very place He shines. Desperation is His specialty.

Think back over this past year, where and when did you grow the most? When everything was awesome or when the struggle was daily in your face?

In this new year, true and lasting change will only come:

• Through a surrender of the will, not a show of force
• By letting go, not grabbing on
• By crawling on through the valley, not complaining about the mountain

When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, 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. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. … When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind. (Mark 5:2-6, 15 NIV)

I doubt today any of us are in more dire circumstances than this man. This is the picture of hopelessness and desperation met with healing and deliverance. In our fallen state, we are all as this man. But when we meet Jesus, we find ourselves dressed and in our right minds. But this only comes by running to Him and falling on our knees. Desperate.