I believe we all face the challenge of believing God. I think that is a human flaw … we just cannot believe that God is capable of doing all that He does. Unbelief was a problem that the nation Israel had almost from its inception. When we read the history of Israel we all too often find instance where Israel failed to trust God and paid the penalty for it.
Today we want to look at a person who was not a Jew but demonstrated great faith in God.
Matthew 8:5-13 (New International Version)
The Faith of the Centurion
5
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 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.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
The centurion obviously had heard of Jesus because he came to Him, asking for help. Can you imagine a Roman soldier in charge of one hundred men asking – not demanding – asking for help? Jesus responded by offering to come to heal the servant … meaning He would enter the home of a Gentile and defile Himself. Do you remember the teaching about carrying the cloak? The Roman centurion also understood Jewish law. I imagine he had seen reluctance to enter his home before and had found out that no Jew would come under his roof. But he also understood authority … because he had authority. Somehow the Roman centurion recognized that Jesus could just speak the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus saw the trust that the centurion had and remarked that no one in Israel had demonstrated that level of faith … a faith that was necessary to escape eternal punishment.
We live in a world that demands concrete proof before most will accept. Faith, though, is based on just taking God at His word. It is a challenge in this world but one each of us must come to accept. The phrase is “I believe, help thou my unbelief”. Learn to trust God in the little things and He will lead you to trust Him in the big things too.
Agape’
Mr. Jim
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