Ok . . . so it’s probably not very good hermeneutics . . . the application of this passage is probably a whole lot deeper than what’s grabbing me this morning . . . but, in my experience, that’s how it goes sometimes. You’re reading a passage, often a very familiar passage, and something jumps out at you . . . perhaps a bit out of context . . . but nevertheless it just grabs you . . . and blesses you . . . and causes you to bless back . . . and say, “Yes! Amen! Thank you Lord!” That’s kind of what happened this morning as I read Luke 8:26-39.

Pretty well known story actually . . . Jesus sails over to the Gadarenes with His disciples and there encounters a man who had been long-possessed by demons. Not just a demon, but demons with an “s”. In fact, they identify themselves as “Legion” . . . a whole company of demons . . . and they had been living in and tearing up this guy for years. This guy went about wearing no clothes . . . didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs with the dead . . . and possessed a supernatural strength — chains and shackles not able to restrain him. Basically, this guy was absolutely out of control.

Then he meets Jesus. The demons recognize Him immediately, “What have I to do with You, Jesus the Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” They begged Jesus not to command them to go out and in the abyss. That’s kind of ironic, don’t you think. Here they had been tormenting this poor guy for years, making his life a living hell . . . and now they plead with Jesus not to torment them or send them into the pit. The rest of story has Jesus casting them out of the men, they then possess a herd of swine, and the swine madly run down a steep hill into the lake and drown.

So, here’s the phrase that caught my attention this morning. After the people in the town are informed of the day’s events, “they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). That’s the phrase that stopped me . . . sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind . . . and what hits me is, “I’m that guy! That’s me! Sitting at the feet of Jesus . . . clothed . . . in my right mind!”

Isn’t that salvation in a nutshell? Once far off . . . under the influence of the world . . . now brought near and desiring to be near Jesus . . . to sit at His feet . . . to be loved by Him . . . and learn from Him . . . and love on Him, in return. Minds that were once in darkness now brought into marvelous light . . . truths that once seemed crazy now define a heavenly reality . . . thinking that’s straight . . . an understanding that’s from God Himself . . . a renewed mind resulting in a transformed life through the living Word of God and the in-dwelling Spirit of God.

And finally, I am clothed . . . no longer in the shame of nakedness and sin . . . but clothed with garments of salvation . . . covered with the robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10). I’m decked out in the garb of a holy priesthood . . . I’ve been dressed in a wedding garment that gains me access to a wedding feast that’s out of this world . . . the designer label says “Faith-Fashioned in the Likeness of Jesus.” When the Father looks on me, He sees me arrayed in the holiness and beauty of His Son. Gone are the filthy rags of my own attempts at righteousness. Hidden in Christ, I’m no longer exposed in sin, but instead, I’m clothed with a righteousness that comes through faith in the Person and work of Jesus the Son of the Most High God. When God looks at me He sees not what I used to be . . . but He sees Jesus. Talk about your being all dressed up . . . and, with places to go!

How good is God? How great is our salvation? Sitting at the feet of Jesus . . . clothed . . . and in my right mind! How does it get any better than that?

Thank You Jesus!