The Ravings of a Madman! #1

Friday, October 7, 2022

“And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:20,21 KJV).

Who here is “beside himself?” Why has this designation been applied?

Throughout the last 20 centuries, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been ridiculed (and even tortured, imprisoned, and murdered!) for their alleged “craziness.” It is not uncommon for the lost family members and friends of new Christians to reply even now, “What in the world happened to you?! You have completely lost it, you are totally flipped out, you are utterly fanatical!”

Imagine the pious lady who walked to her local “church” every day for 30 years before finally realizing she was in a cult and headed for Hell. Someone told her about the Gospel of Grace, she trusted it, and how bizarre it was that she never again visited her long-time “assembly.” (True story!) Consider the former marijuana-plant grower now talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends and relatives could not fathom such a change. (True story!) Think of the woman who, having just trusted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour, was so excited to share that good news with her religious—but unsaved—mother. Content to be lost, the mother exclaimed, “Stop talking about ‘God’ so much!” (True story!) Imagine the man who met an old classmate after many years apart: when she asked what he had done with his life, he replied that he was a pastor, so she rejoined in disbelief, “You?!” (True story!) Think of the drunkard couple, once dead in trespasses and sins, now alive in Christ and sober—their relatives stunned at the reversal. (True story!)

When the God of the Bible is at work in souls, people look and act differently. The change is unmistakable. Their thoughts and conduct show improvement; they bear no resemblance to what they used to be. To unregenerate people, they appear to be lunatic, mad, crazy, insane (their minds left behind). If we happen to be labeled as such, so be it….