And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, Mark 5:1-6 (KJV)
This man. This man was miserable. He was homeless, naked, howling at the top of his lungs, cutting himself - unable to be restrained or to live with others. He was alone and frustrated. And he was possessed with a demon.
The Bible says when he saw Jesus from a far way off he ran and fell down and worshiped him. I wonder. Was it the man who saw something in Jesus of God's love and wanted to be free of his demons or was it the demons who knew who Jesus was and couldn't help but worship him? Can you, if you are living far from God, recognize him? Can you, if you are living far from God want to worship him even though it goes against everything you are doing?
I believe you can. The Bible tells us that God is the one who comes to search for us. He is the one who looks for his lost and even died so we can be found. God is always, always at work to bring us to a place where we recognize him and worship him. Not only is he working in our lives, he is working in everyone else's life too.
Question for us today is - is there someone that God is reaching out to that we are turning away from because they don't look and act like we think they should? And, is there something in our life that is keeping us from falling down and worshiping Jesus?