Such Great Faith

“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.” (Luke 7:9, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Jesus amazed? Now that’s a story worth hearing. A Roman centurion, with a sick servant sent messengers to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus went with the messengers, but “He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: ‘Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, and he goes; and that one, come, and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and he does it.'” (Luke 7:6–8, NIV 1984).

A “pagan.” From a foreign nation that had conquered and occupied the land that God had given to the Jews. For that reason, despised by most. But he saw in Jesus something that many of Jesus’ own countrymen did not. Someone with authority. So, “turning to the crowd following him, [Jesus] said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’ Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (Luke 7:9-10, NIV 1984).

Sometimes, it takes an “outsider” to wake us up from the superficial acting out of our faith. We “come near to [Him] with [our] mouth and honor [Him] with [our] lips, but [our] hearts are far from [Him]. [Our] worship of [Him] is made up only of rules taught by men.” (Isaiah 29:13, NIV 1984). This should not be.

My Advice – We too are not worthy to “come under [His] roof.” To come into His Kingdom. Yet those who have accepted Him as Savior, He calls “my people.” It’s His Kingdom and we are under His authority. For what He has done for us and for who He is to us, we must do so much more than “honor [Him] with [our] lips” with “hearts [that]are far from [Him].”

Author: thebrewisamusing

I was raised in a Christian family and my earliest childhood memories include regular Sunday school and Church attendance as a family. I was taught that our Judeo-Christian values were not just a part of our Sunday routine they should be part of our character and influence all aspects of our lives. I was also taught that as important as these values were they could not save us. We must also be “born again” by accepting Christ. View all posts by thebrewisamusing