“But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. I say to one ‘Go’ and he goes, to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my servant ‘Do this’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:8-9
God has called us to be a people of faith. Faith is the currency of our relationship with God, the thing that pleases Him, and perhaps, our only reasonable response to His call. He wants nothing less. And He deserves nothing less.
This element of faith is something that will continue to recur until His return. The Bible tells us to abide in faith, hope and love. The verse then continues to say that of these three elements, the greatest is love. I believe (personally) that the reason why love is the greatest is because when we meet Him face-to-face when He returns, the only thing that matters would be love because of His all-encompassing presence. In His presence then, there will be no need for faith or hope because we have all that will ever need.
However, that being said, our lives lived here on earth have to exude this element. There is a premium placed by God on faith. Jesus marvelled at the centurion’s faith. The description of that marvel makes me picture a standing ovation given by the Son of God to a Gentile who simply believes. The extent of the centurion’s faith was well articulated not because he had a well thought-up statement; it was in the fact that he put his faith into action.
In Matthew 5:8, we are told that the centurion literally begged Jesus. You can imagine him running up to Jesus, stopping Him in His tracks, perhaps even getting down on his knees and speaking those faith-filled words. Whilst Jesus’ Jewish friends would expect His physical presence when it came to healing (in fact, He was present for all of the healings of the Jewish people), this centurion upped the ante on faith by requiring only the word to be spoken, thereby removing physicality from the healing equation!
What is the point of this story?
Well, when it comes to your exercising of faith, where do you stand? How are you walking out your faith? When you are faced with a mountain, how are you speaking to it? How would He comment / commend you for that act of faith?
Comments