Pride
I love the way the Bible tells stories. The good, the bad, and the ugly – it’s all there. Today’s reading got me thinking about a story from Acts…
On one of Paul’s trips, he was preaching in Ephesus. For some reason, God did some amazing miracles there – strange stuff. It got the attention of lots of people, not all of whom were interested in the spiritual benefits of the power they were seeing.
A bunch of brothers started going from town to town casting out demons, too – and this is how they did it: I command you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out! (Acts 19:13)
It worked for a while, until they ran across a demon who didn’t cooperate. He caused the man he was possessing to say, Okay, I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who in the world are you? This one demon-possessed guy proceeded to give the brothers the beating of a lifetime, and sent them, naked and wounded, on their way.
Great story. Would that happen today? It certainly could, but probably the most danger we would put ourselves in would be to begin to act independently of God, presumably on His behalf.
It’s very cool that God entrusts us with spiritual authority; the point of it is, then, to cause us to deepen our dependence on Him.
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