“Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains [the man with an unclean spirit] was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.” –Mark 5:5
My heart is troubled by the rise of self-hatred in our modern day. The agony of those without Christ are taught from a young age that who God knitted together in their mother’s womb is to be hated, mutilated to look different or become a different gender, find a different identity because who you are is not worthy to be loved. The world pressures people of all ages to keep changing identities, keep taking dangerous pills or surgeries until you find an identity the world will love.
In Mark 5, our Lord encounters a man possessed by a Legion of demons. The evil which raged with control of this man’s personality led to the agony of crying out with screams night and day as well as self-mutilation with stones. Evil hates the image-bearer of God.
The world would teach this man to love himself more. First, this is out of unbelief of the supernatural, but also in our postmodern age that “good” and “evil” are subjective. But this is not God’s plan to restore such a man. Jesus cast out the demons, something this man could not do for himself. This man needed reconciliation to God. Only Jesus can do that.
Adam’s fall distorted the image of God we bear. Distorted by sin, we are left attempting to fix Adam’s fall in us through earthly ways. The Bible calls us sinners, blind to the glory of God, dead in our trespasses against His holiness, separated from God. Jesus came to save sinners, calling us to turn from our wicked ways toward God. Jesus reconciles sinners to God by willingly laying down His life on the cross, taking God’s wrathful punishment which we deserved, though He is without sin. Jesus rose from the dead, proving He has authority and power over our final enemy, death.
In the Bible, God describes Himself as merciful, loving with long-suffering, kind, powerful, and holy. With sinful distortion, the sinner finds these qualities contradictory because God could only be merciful and loving if He allowed us to pursue our passions which lead to destruction. Yet, God warns us and commands us not to follow the wide path of destruction and exhorts us to turn from our ways to Christ. We need restoring, which is why Jesus came as the new Adam. If you are reading this article with skepticism, I ask you to read the short passage of Romans 5:12-21.
The answer to your self-hatred is not in pursuits of selfish passions, but to self-denial to Christ. Jesus said it this way: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). Delighting in the reign of King Jesus is like finding treasure! A man would sell everything, deny everything of himself, with…joy.
If you do not have a joy in self-denial, it is because you are blind to the hidden treasure of Christ. I plead with you, dear reader, to behold the beauty of Christ Jesus. He came to seek and to save the lost. You are lost.
The world would have you pursue your sexual appetites with identities contrary to how God created you. This is the path to true happiness, they say. But understand that others are simply pursuing their own appetites selfishly. This creates a selfish world which uses others for pleasure rather than selflessly loving one another.
When you go the wide path of destruction this Satan-ruled world demands of you, it is not you that they love. It is the new identity to their liking that they applause. Like this Legion possessed man, many in this world are crying in agony night and day because of this great evil.
Turn from your ways toward Jesus. Do not listen to the world’s voice that tell you to change your identity or mutilate your body until they love what they see, or until you love what you see. You don’t need new identities, you need a Redeemer of who you really are. A Savior of sinners. A Man of Sorrows of God’s own choosing to bear your sins and griefs, tortured at the hands of Roman guards, crucified to atone for your sin to be reconciled to God. A treasure hidden. In joy, reader, turn to Jesus.
God was intentional in creating you, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). I can only imagine the agony of this Legion possessed man who cried out night and day and cut himself with stones. I grieve over your agony, reader. Look to Christ who loves with boundless length and width and height and depth (Ephesians 3:18). You must be born again to have the strength to comprehend this treasure, delivered from this present evil kingdom of darkness to Christ’s kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). You must be set free. Good news: Jesus sets the sinners free by knowing this truth (John 8:32).
If you would like to know more about Jesus Christ and this gospel, please contact me at shepherdwithhooves@gmail.com. I would be delighted to tell you more!
Heavenly Father, my prayer and plea from my heart is that Your gospel would open the eyes of the blind to see the beauty of Christ Jesus my Savior and Redeemer. Rescue the lost by Your might like You rescued this Legion possessed man. You are mighty to save with great compassion for sinners, as Your servant Paul says, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief” (I Timothy 1:15). Be glorified in Your saving grace for sinners through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
