Scatter-brained? Look To Jesus!

As you know, I still struggle with English idioms even if I have lived-in English-speaking world for decades. There is a new one I recently acquired: To be scatter-brained or mentally scattered. I looked it up: It seemed to describe a situation when our lives have a bunch of things going on at once, and multiple things to manage in each of those areas … it can feel really messy and scattered. This kind of feeling of messiness can cause us stress. We all have been there before, haven’t we? We learn to put up a good face because we don’t want the world to know that we are not in control! Am I right? This is a human trait. We all go through life differently; face different battles and we react differently. Some of us may use aspirin or melatonin (Sleep aid) to cope better, and others develop new ways of coping with stress, some positive and others negative. The Gospel of Mark does not tell us everything about all the people Jesus met. He mentions some really amazing healings that stood out. I suspect that in the Synagogue, Jesus could tell how mentally scattered his listeners were, because he could tune into what they were feeling. Mark tells us that they were astounded at his teaching, because I assume He understood them at a deeper level. It is in the midst of our scatteredness, that Jesus wants to bring healing and peace with him and peace with ourselves. Will we listen to his word today and obey? I want us to look into the face of the man with an unclean spirit. First, he is already in the synagogue, seeking healing! Perhaps many of us would still think it was an unrealistic expectation. A voice from him cried out that clearly was not his own voice, but the voice of the unclean spirit in him. The man was beyond mentally scattered! Can you imagine how scary that was? for him and his family, not knowing how this experience is going to hurt him after convulsing. Jesus saw through him: He knew his problem was spiritual whereas many of us after seeing a convulsing man, we would rightly call 911 even if the EMT's might not know how to address a spiritual issue. Right diagnosis invites right cure. Jesus healed him by rebuking the unclean spirit and sending it out of him. That’s our Lord Jesus! He knows what our battles really are and he is willing to help us heal from our diseases and burdens. You see, sometimes we are dealing with a spiritual problem and often, we look elsewhere for answers. At some point, God told Moses about his standards for prophets. He had strong words for false prophets because they had a spiritual problem called lying. To spiritual problems, false prophets brought wrong cures that God did not prescribe. When we lie, we worry that we will be found out and we lie again to cover the first lie. Keeping track of those lies can scatter the brains of anyone. God is truth. His goal is to heal us so we can be whole, so we can be at peace with him and also at peace with ourselves. We are called to be imitators of God, to live in peace with a calm and collected conscience. When we lie for whatever reason, our conscience becomes distraught! We become mentally scattered. That’s not where God wants us. God wants us to be free, free from the forces of darkness. That’s why we pray for each other, so that God would intervene and heal our lives. Please do not shy away from praying for others Now these forces of darkness representing Satan and all the demonic forces, which are everywhere. We see them in broken relationship, in unforgiveness, in our yielding to sin: anything that makes us forget or discount God and his ways is a serpent in our lives. We need to be educated about the nature of these attacks! “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).” Jesus comes in to heal those broken relationships, to help us forgive where we felt unable to forgive, to remove from us the effects of sin and diseases and to heal us. Dwell in God, He will open the floodgates of heaven, the fountain of life to cover you, so you can be rooted in a quiet, peaceful and kind thoughts. Listen to Jesus’ words. Amen.

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