Too High A Price

"The herdsmen fled to the nearly town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men."  Matthew 8:33

And just what had happened to the demon-possessed men? Jesus had set them free!

Can you imagine the herdsmen running through the town explaining that the men, who had been so violent that no one could pass through the area where they were, now were calm and in their right minds? No more walking around that area out of fear of these violent men!

Can you imagine how the men themselves must have felt? They had encountered Jesus, and he had set them free and their lives would never be the same!

The people came to Jesus after hearing this news:

"Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone." Matthew 8:34

This is not the response I would have imagined after hearing how Jesus had set these men free. Oh, but the pigs! Freedom surely was not the only message the herdsmen told, there was also the loss of a whole herd of pigs! That cost someone dearly!

Freedom came at too high a cost, so they begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

I can't help but wonder in what ways and in what areas I do the same? Where in my life do I desperately need and even want freedom, but it might cost me, so I invite Jesus to leave that area of my life?

What if freedom would cost me a friendship, or laying down my rights, or having to forgive, or moving, or my reputation, my job, or.....?  Do I end up like the people of that town? "Thank you, Jesus, but I'm going to have to ask you to go away and leave me alone. I cannot pay so high a price?"

May we embrace freedom, at whatever it may cost us, as we encounter and embrace a Savior who came to set us free!

Angela