Read Luke 7:1-10
Luke tells the story of a centurion with great faith…
faith which caused Jesus to marvel…
I tell you… I have not found such great faith… even in Israel…
This story makes me wonder…
Do those born and raised in church… lose the wonder… of faith…?
Israel… God’s chosen people… were exposed to Him… the telling of His wonders all their lives… generation upon generation… yet among those church-people… Jesus found none of great faith…
The centurion… a Gentile… came to know God and His people later in life… for he would have been raised to believe pagan gods… the gods of Rome… Caesar…
Yet this Gentile centurion… had greater faith than God’s people…
Somewhere in his life… the centurion saw the one true God through His people… they were the only ones talking about Him… serving Him… living life His Way… so among the Jews… the Gentile saw truth… he turned from paganism to Judaism…
The Jewish elders called the centurion worthy… he built their synagogue… their church house… the communal center for the Jews…
The centurion clearly loved God’s people… and God…
in Jesus he saw Him too…
In humility… the centurion would not go directly to Jesus… he asked Jewish elders to speak to Him on his behalf…
In humility… he would not allow Jesus to come to his house… he was not worthy…
The centurion understood authority… he believed… trusted… Jesus’s authority to heal disease… He didn’t need to be present… He didn’t need to lay on hands… all He had to do was speak… and He would be obeyed…
In humility… the centurion trusted… believed… saw Jesus’s authority over illness and death…
The centurion’s humble faith… belief… trust… in Jesus… caused Jesus to marvel… wonder… Not even in Israel… have I found such faith…
Sometimes… I think growing up in church… fetters faith… He becomes commonplace… instead of a wonder which humbles… bringing people to their knees…
Those who convert later… pagans who turn from worldly idols… to the true and living God… have powerful faith… often beyond those brought up in faith…
Paul saw it in the Thessalonians…
Jesus sees the commonplace faith too…
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