Made for Better Things

Daily Reading: Mark 5

Scripture Focus: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” … Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” (Mark 5.8, 11-12)

Devotional Thought: “I’m disappointed in you. You’re a better person than that!” I heard that from a 6th grade teacher after I had done something to hurt another person. It was a like a guided missile, scoring a direct hit on my heart. There were other things that turned me toward the good and toward God, but that event helped shape my life. It has stuck with me. In that interaction I came to know that I was made for better things!

In Mark 5, we read how Jesus made a trip across the Sea of Galilee with one purpose in mind: to rescue a man from a wasted life. He was possessed by a “Legion” of unclean spirits, causing him and those who loved him great pain. Jesus knew that he was made for better things. The man needed to hear the truth, and Jesus spoke it with authority: “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Those spirits found a temporary ‘home’ in a herd of pigs.

You and I were made for better things than what this world has to offer. John described it like this: “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2.16-17). We were made for eternal things – for light, for love, and for life.

We don’t have to live like pigs. We weren’t made for that. Thank God! We were made for better things!

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for crossing over the sea that separated me from you. Thank you for saving me from sin. Help me to live in the grace and with the goodness that you provide me. Break every chain in my life, O Lord!

Psalm of the Day: 4.1-8