In today's text, there was a demon-possessed man, tormented by at least 2,000 demons! One clear characteristic about this man was that he was obsessed with death. He lived in a graveyard for goodness' sake! (Mark 5:3) He wasn't comfortable living with the living; he had to be around the dead. He was so obsessed with death.
Our culture today isn't much different. Have you ever looked at clothing or accessories in most any local Wal-Mart or mall? You can buy clothes, purses, backpacks, hair supplies, keychains, and about a million other little trinkets with skulls on them. Or how about this new obsession with vampires and the "undead"? With the Twilight saga sweeping over North America, teenagers, kids, and adults invest hours and hours of their lives poring over books and watching movies about the dead and death. What about video games where you fight demons? Or books about spirits coming back from the grave to haunt you? These may seem like innocent fun at first, but you can get in big trouble if you decide to continue down this dangerous road.
But let's turn our eyes away from death. Let's instead focus on life! Though we were once dead in our sin, we are now alive in the Lord, because of Christ's shed blood for us! This demon-possessed man was obsessed with death for a long time, but the day he met Jesus, everything changed. When the demons were cast out of him, he fell on his knees praising God that he was now alive in Him! So let's turn away from death and darkness and, just like this man, rejoice that we, who have repented of our sin and trusted in Christ, are now light in the Lord!
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses ... God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses." Colossians 2:13