“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39)

These are the words of Jesus to a man named Legion from whom he had delivered many demons.  The Gospel of Luke reports, “For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. Many times [the evil spirits] had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains.”  He was so violent that no one would come near him.  After Jesus had delivered him of many demons, the man begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him to stay where he was and tell everyone how much God had done for him. (Luke 8:26-39)  

Jesus calls us to be a witness to him and his action in our lives. (Acts 1:8)  The psalms and St. Paul encourage us to give thanksgiving in all circumstances. (Psalm 100:4; 1Th. 5:16)  So, how do we tell people what God has done for us without sounding prideful or boastful?

Jesus alluded to this question in his Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector where he warned the disciples about being self-righteous.  The Pharisee prayed, thanking God that he was not “like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like the tax collector.”  He went on to say, “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”  Jesus then said, “But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus declared that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified before God.  The Pharisee was not thanking God for what God had done in his life, but rather what he, the Pharisee had done. (Luke 18:9- 14)

This past week, my wife, Marilynn and I spent six days in Colorado celebrating our 60^th wedding anniversary, the same state in which we spent our honeymoon.  How can you capture 60 years together in marriage and remember all of God’s blessings and some of the trials?  Four married children who are raising loving families and have given us thirteen grandchildren; an adult daughter with special needs who has taught us more about God and his ways than any sermon; a family who truly love each other and get along so well; and personal encounters with the Lord Jesus and his Holy Spirit on back to back evenings one October many years ago.   

So we offer thanks to God for all that he has done for us, not out of pride, but as a grateful witness to his grace, love and care. 

When you experience a blessing from God, do you tell other people about it?

Before COVID, I took communion to residents at a local nursing home.  Sometimes residents afflicted with Alzheimer’s were not able to physically receive the Body of Christ in the host, so I would offer to say the Lord’s Prayer with them.  As I started to say the Lord’s Prayer, they would often try to say it with me.  A small step for both them and me, but one where God was fully present! 

The Book of Acts reports that sometime after Pentecost, Peter and John were entering the temple and a man crippled since birth asked them for money.  Peter looked straight at him and said, “Look at us!”  So the man, expecting to get something from them, gave them his attention.

Then Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazorean, walk.”  Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.  Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:1-10)

Before the man could be healed he had to look at the presence of God in the person of Peter.  He had to be willing to look God’s way before God could act in his life.  It may have been a first step for him, a small step in moving toward God, but it was a small step that led to him leaping for joy in praise of God.

God in his love and mercy will take the smallest movement from us toward him and act on it.  Having been a cripple since birth, this man had probably been begging for many years at the temple gates.  He was likely ignored by most people passing by.  For the few that dropped a coin in his cup, even they may have gone on without acknowledging him. 

So here was Peter, who did something hardly anyone ever did.  He stopped, gave the man his full attention, talked to him and offered him God’s presence and healing. 

There is a lesson here for people on both ends of this spectrum.  To followers of Christ Jesus, we have the capacity to bring the presence of God through the power of the Holy Spirit to the people and circumstances in our lives.  To those who are lame, in need, and impoverished in spirit, the smallest response on their part toward God begets a response from God. 

What small step are you able to make to bring God’s presence to someone?

Our human nature tends to want to give the appearance that we are strong, smart, and capable of handling things ourselves and not dependent upon the help of others.  This is true in most areas of life, particularly in the workplace.  But St. Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”  (Philippians 2:3)

After having worked as an attorney for an oil company for most of my career, I was asked to take an assignment overseeing policy and governmental compliance for our environmental, health and safety operations.  The staff of this organization was made up entirely of engineers and people with technical and scientific backgrounds, a knowledge base in which I was severely lacking.

Shortly after assuming this assignment, one of our audit teams had discovered several operational deficiencies in one our African affiliates that was responsible for producing a significant percentage of our crude oil production worldwide – over 600 thousand barrels a day, all offshore.   Because of the significance of this affiliate’s operations and its contribution to the overall profitability of the company, the audit findings became quite controversial. 

The affiliate attacked both the findings and the competence of our audit team.  Thus, it became my role to defend the audit team and their findings before senior management involving technical engineering issues for which I had little expertise.  Acknowledging my lack of knowledge in this area, I had to ask our staff for help – to literally educate me on each of the technical issues so I could overcome the arguments of the affiliate’s engineers. 

With the staff’s assistance, we were able to persuade management to accept the findings of the audit team and their expertise.  As a result, several changes in the affiliate’s operations were implemented that helped to avoid future accidents affecting employee safety and potential environmental harm.    

When we acknowledge that we need help, we are humbling ourselves before God and others.  Psalm 25:9 says the Lord “guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”   Jesus says, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”  (Mt. 11:29)

Ironically, acknowledging our limitations is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength.  We are confessing the truth of who we are and what we are capable of doing and not doing. As Jesus said to St. Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) 

God, the creator of all that exists, performed one of the greatest acts of humility and love of all time when he became an embryo in Mary’s womb to become one of his created in the person of Jesus.   

Think of a time when you humbled yourself and acknowledged a need for help or guidance?