Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 8 verses26 through 31:
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,* which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn* no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— 29for Jesus* had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
In “What It Is Like to Go to War”, Vietnam veteran Karl Marlantes grapples with his memories of belonging to a brilliantly effective Marine combat unit and confronts the terrible split inside himself which war caused, and the journey of coming to accept his many, ambiguous selves:
"For years I was unaware of the need to heal that split, and there was no one, after I returned, to point this out to me. . . . Why did I assume there was only one person inside me? . . . There's a part of me that just loves maiming, killing, and torturing. This part of me isn't all of me. I have other elements that indeed are just the opposite, of which I am proud. So am I a killer? No, but part of me is. Am I a torturer? No, but part of me is. Do I feel horror and sadness when I read in the newspapers of an abused child? Yes. But am I fascinated?"
There are so many walking around in this world with split personalities brought on by trauma, abuse, moral injury, and/or wars of many kinds. Some may be walking around inside of us. They are legion.
Maybe the pathway to healing and to wholeness is learning to accept these personalities, love them, and allow them the place they belong without judgment and without fear, but with acceptance and unconditional love.
We must learn to love and embrace all ourselves completely, and those who reveal to us their many wonderful, childlike, peaceful, and also very frightened, and angry, and aggressive, and tormented selves.
Love casts out all fear; so there is no fear in love. So then in love and in hope all our persons can be embraced and healed, inside and out.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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