“When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs”. -Luke 8:27
Maybe you have heard it when you shared the Gospel with someone. Maybe you have even said it yourself. “Why would God love me and save me? I have been too bad, and too bad for a really long time.”
Of course, that is the point: you are too bad. There is no hope for any of us actually if Jesus does not intervene in our lives, regenerating our minds and hearts to believe in him, to have faith. Just like the man in the story, we have lived without hope like that for a long time.
This is one of the more gripping stories of Jesus' ministry. Jesus and his disciples dock on a shore and encounter a naked man who lives among graves. He is wrecked by the demons that have taken over his life. He lives where no one else has to see him, far off. And he has done so for a long time.
Jesus sends the legion of demons into some cliff diving pigs, and the man, in his right mind, goes on to proclaim the Gospel to his people.
There was no class to take or things to prove. This man had encountered Jesus, and he was freed from all that dwelled in him, that ruled over him. It is the same way with us. When we encounter Jesus, when he is king of our lives, that is enough. It doesn't matter the length of time we were lost in sin or how graphic our sin was, Jesus is enough. And then we tell people.
Notice in this story, the man doesn't move away. He moves back home. To his people. And there he proclaims what Jesus has done for him. This is our life. No matter how long it took. Let's tell someone about it.