Jesus Lifts Us Up - Truth For Life - April 28
After crying out and convulsing him terribly, [the unclean spirit] came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
There is no one whom Jesus cannot help.
In Mark 9, we read about Jesus’ interaction with a child who had long been possessed by an unclean spirit. The boy’s predicament had been his lot since he was young. He could neither speak nor hear. When the demon took him, it threw him down, causing him to foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and become rigid (Mark 9:18). This young man was caught in a dreadful circumstance, essentially trapped inside his body, unable to hear any words of comfort that may have come to him from his father, family, or friends, unable to give voice to his pain and fear. His life was marred by the attempted distortion and destruction of the image of God that he bore.
In the face of such a hopeless situation, Jesus intervened, giving a divine word of rebuke to the evil spirit. Through such a powerful rebuke, Christ drew out the enemy’s powerless rage, and the evil spirit, having done its worst, left the boy as though dead. And then Jesus raised him up.
This is what Jesus does. He takes people whose lives are decimated—those who are en route to destruction—and He does what only He can do: He enters that life, takes the person by the hand, lifts them up… and they stand.
Jesus is the only one who can truly say, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). He is the only one who can take someone who seems absolutely helpless and completely unable to effect change in themselves, and give them new life.
So today, Jesus comes to you and says, Why don’t you just bring your burdens to Me? You can’t educate yourself out of pain and sorrows. Therapy won’t give you lasting answers for all your hurt and confusion. Truly, it’s good that you know you can’t do this on your own. Bring your burdens to Me.
Not only that, but He can come to others through you. There is no one you will meet today who does not need Jesus’ help, and no one whom Jesus cannot help. However bright someone’s life looks, there is normally regret and anxiety under the surface, and there is always the sin that is slowly dragging each of us to destruction—unless and until Jesus intervenes. When you learn to see those around you in this way, you long to share Christ with them; for there is no one whom Jesus cannot help.
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Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.
