Observing my grandson, while he was in "time out", relaxing, looking around, and supposedly abstaining from all "activity", I was reminded of the need of my own soul for a "time out", to relax, look around, and abstain from all physical activity, focusing my whole being on my Glorious Saviour, His Cross, and His Matchless Grace to me. How desperately I needed that reminder from the Lord, to look back on what He has accomplished in my life since the day He saved me, so many years ago.
Time Out! Let us relax, and look around, abstaining from all outward "physical activity", and look at the Biblical examples of those who also took a look back, at the Saviour's working in their lives. One of the most notable testimonies of the Lord's saving grace is the demoniac of Gadara found in Mark chapter five. This guy is one of my favorites! The notable "Nude dude, in a crude mood" as one Evangelist has described him, is totally consumed with uncontrollable sin habits. He was possessed of the devil, to the point of insanity.
The Lord makes a special one stop missionary trip into what then could have been Gentile territory, the eastern side of the lake of Galilee into the country of the Gadarenes. Immediately this frightful looking man meets Him coming out of the tombs onto the shore having a legion of unclean spirits!
Imagine this scene if you were one of the Lord's disciples! You just got the boat onto the shore, and Jesus gets out, and here comes this naked man, full of bleeding cuts, and old scars, a man who had the reputation of being bound with chains, and no man, get this, no man could tame him! Nobody could bring this man, who was now totally possessed by Satan's power, under control! No man but the God Man! He can rescue the sorriest soul from the devil's grip!
However, this howling, screaming lunatic, right now was approaching your "comfort zone" and if something wasn't done soon you might have to face him yourself! This was a critical situation in the eyes of those disciples, but the Lord saw "A Diamond in the Rough" here on this isolated shore. He knew this man's past, and his pitiful, seemingly hopeless condition. Jesus proceeds to deliver him "from the power of darkness" and all who knew this man in the past now saw him "translated into the Kingdom" of God's dear Son! Yes, they saw him "sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind".
What a testimony! Totally cleansed from all his past conditions! No more self-inflicted, Satanically motivated, wounds. No more bondage to the chains of sin. No longer an outcast from society! He could now return to his family, friends and home to freely testify of the compassion that God had demonstrated in his life. And, testify he did! As a matter of record, this man witnessed of the wonderful grace of Jesus in no less than ten surrounding cities!