I encourage you to read the story for yourself, but the short version is that a man comes to Jesus, asking Him to come heal one of his valued servants. Before they get all the way to the man's house, however, the man balks and tells Jesus that he (the man) isn't worthy of Jesus' presence in his home.
The man goes on to say to Jesus, "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 7:7b-8 (NIV), emphasis mine
Now, here's the good part: "When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."" Luke 7:9 (NIV)
I don't know about you, but I definitely want to take a lesson from the man whose faith amazed Jesus. Hello! Amazing to JESUS?!? Um, yes please!
So, I started taking a look at my own faith and the times, places and situations in which it shows up outwardly & inwardly. And I started looking at this situation. What's similar about the ways in which I sometimes believe? What's different?
Here's what I realized.
God has been pushing me and teaching me a lot over the last year about believing Him for His promises to me - promises found both in the Bible, and also those specific ones He's made to my heart through the Holy Spirit. And I have gratefully come a long way. In the instance of this story, however, the man approaches the Lord without any pre-existing promise specifically related to the topic of his ailing servant. If anything, he may come with the foundation of promises that tell us that our prayers are heard, and that God will respond to us. So, at least so far, that is part of what I've realized makes the faith of this man so amazing.
He comes with a new boldness. Although I do not mean to diminish my own journey in believing, I must admit that things for which I've been learning to believe Him haven't been particularly remarkable. So far (and it IS a journey I've only just begun in so many ways!), I've come into a place of learning to believe Him for the things He's said. Truthfully, this isn't all that remarkable. If my friend says, "I'll meet you at 3:30," I expect to see her at 3:30. When my co-worker says, "I will bring that in to lend to you," I am not surprised when she brings it in to share with me. This is the kind of belief I, personally, have had to work on with God. In essence, His word has said, "I've got this thing I'm going to do" and "Here are the things I'm going to take care of" and I've had to get to the place of simply believing He'd do the things He says He will do - specifically.
So, my suspicion for the next lesson for me is that God's ready to work on getting me to believe Him for my requests, whether He's explicitly affirmed them or not. Now, don't get me wrong; I am certain that there are some parameters that are in play here. I know there is abundant commentary on such things, and I'm sure I'll delve into some of that in my own study at some point, but for today, I'm just looking at the path ahead and taking in the view.
So, for now, I'm just realizing that God's plans for me include not only the faith I've built with Him so far (and it's amazing to me!), but also so much more. He is good, and I am SO grateful that His view is wider and greater and far above my own! So, here's to the next leg of the journey! I can't wait!
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