Pigs or Promise?

What's more important to you, your promise or what you must lose or leave behind to obtain that promise?


In a story recorded in Mark 5 spirits were cast out of a man... He had been battling with lunacy, self-mutilation and possession for years.  He made a cemetery his home, had nothing to call his own (literally not even clothes to wear), no job, farm, friends or family; he had lost everything.  The very moment Jesus spoke into his life he was healed, delivered and made whole!  That's no small miracle by any standards! For me, the story is not in the miracle itself(after all miracles followed Jesus everywhere he walked) it was in the reaction to the miracle... 


See, when this man received his miracle some nearby herdsmen who witnessed the divine moment lost 2000 pigs in direct relation to the miracle...You would think they would be happy to know their children could play outside safely, their wives could walk past the cemetery alone and they wouldn't have to fear the "crazy cutter" any longer; but instead, they were only concerned about some dead pigs!  How crazy is that!?  These people just witnessed an undeniable miracle and instead of running to tell their families and friends about the miracle they ran to tell them they've lost pigs..? I'm not trivializing the loss, it was a lot more than some bacon on the table at that time it would have been a huge portion of their livelihood but after seeing one miracle of such great proportion before their very eyes and knowing the story of Job one would think they could put two and two together realizing the miracle worker could also perform a miracle fore them to restore all they had lost and more!  Further to the reaction of the herdsmen, the reaction of their families and friends; after hearing what had happened none had enough foresight to see the good in the situation! They too missed the thought of asking the miracle worker if He could perform a miracle for their own families and they would have to know they were no less deserving than the possessed man who actually didn't even ask for his miracle!


When we continue to read the story I've dubbed "pigs or promise" in Mark 5 the families, friends and all the countrymen do ask Jesus a question.... Or command him and action, rather... "would you leave!?"  We easily come to the conclusion the people who asked Jesus to leave asked the wrong question... We clearly would have reacted differently... Or would we? Better yet, do we?  I'm sure you are aware, as am I, of unfulfilled promises in our own lives... But is it because we are more concerned about giving up some pigs?! Stepping into the unknown of giving up what we've always had for something greater that seems just out of reach is scary but don't let a few pigs become your excuse to stand still and not move forward!

Obviously I'm not speaking of literal pigs in our generation but the pigs in this story can represent a safety net, comfort zone, something we depend on, something we know how to do for ourselves without help from God or anyone else or they can represent actual things, distractions, something we feel responsible to do...  None of those things or anything else in our lives should EVER become bigger than our promises and miracles God is wanting to perform for us!  So think about it, if you could have your miracle within one year but you had to give up the pigs in your life, would you? And not just would you, but would you do do gladly? If you hesitate in your answer, is that possibly why you have yet to see your miracle? Is Jesus afraid you might ask Him to leave your life once you get that promise?  It sometimes is a choice between pigs or promise... Make your choice now and if it's a struggle for you to give something up, pray about it better yet, break it's importance to you by fasting it in advance! Make your promise more important than pigs!