by Tad Lindley
You’ve probably seen them too. People with straight cut marks in locations on their body where people are most likely to see them, like their arms. Since that sort of self-mutilation has never appealed to me, I have a hard time understanding it. All I know is that the social workers tell me this is a crutch that some people use to try to control the emotional pain in their lives. Even in the Bible there was a man who couldn’t quit cutting himself.
The cutter
And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, and when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no not with chains: because he had often been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. (Mark 5:1-5)
Cutting can’t heal the pain
As it is with people today, cutting may in some strange way make the pain seem manageable, it will never heal the pain. True healing comes from Jesus Christ. And so it was with this strange demon possessed man that he had spent his life in madness and his behaviors had never brought him any closer to healing.
Jesus meets the cutter
The cutter watched from the tombs and saw Jesus’ boat land on the beach. He must have known who it was, because the Bible records this important fact: But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. Clearly he wanted Jesus to help him. There was something within this man that wanted to stop the madness in his life, but then the demons that possessed him took over and cried with a loud voice, and said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.” (Mark 5:6-7) Now he is face to face with the living God: the man himself, wanting to be free, the demons that he has embraced not wanting to surrender him.
Casting out the cutting
Jesus said unto him [the demon], “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.” And he [Jesus] asked him [the demon], “What is thy name?”
And he [the demon] answered, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he [the demon] besought him [Jesus] much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And the devils besought him saying, “Send us into the swine that we may enter into them.” (Mark 5:8-12) And Jesus did just that, he cast the demons out of the man and into the herd of pigs, which promptly rushed down a cliff into the lake and drowned.
Clothed and in his right mind
The men that were watching the pigs, suddenly being unemployed, went to the nearest towns and villages and told people what had happened. People came to see, and when they arrived, they saw this man who formerly was naked and lived in the tombs and was covered with cutting scars and even fresh cuts. They were amazed, because he was sitting there clothed and in his right mind. No more crying, no more shackles, no more chains, no more cutting. Jesus had delivered him from the madness of his former life and restored him to sanity.
The cutter in your life
Having myself seen many people with self-inflicted wounds from knives, razors, and cigarettes have often wondered, can such a person be saved from this horrible behavior. Scripture shows us beyond the shadow of a doubt that, yes, God can and will deliver the cutter from their crutch.
If you are a cutter
If you, reader, are a cutter, I want you to study closely how this man was delivered. When he ran to Jesus, he didn’t pick up a cigarette to burn away the pain, he didn’t grab a tattoo gun or a razor blade, no, he worshipped God. Now if you are used to destroying your body because of your emotional pain, you may say, “Brother Lindley, I hurt too much to worship Jesus. The pain of my past keeps me from it.” Listen, worship is not about your circumstances, it is not about how bad they hurt you in the past, worship is about Him. When we take our focus off of ourselves and turn it to Jesus, then he is able to heal and deliver us, that we too might be found clothed and in our right mind.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
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