That prayer request that you have prayed, begged, and pleaded with God to answer—do you believe He can answer in just one word? When circumstances scream otherwise, do you believe with everything you’ve got that Christ can rescue you with one solitary word?
First
Things First:
Read about this centurion’s
incredible faith in Matthew 8: 5-13 and pray for God to show you how to
exercise this faith today!
Going
Deeper:
If
you had to pick one person with so much faith that Jesus marveled at it, who
would you pick? A disciple, perhaps?
Mary? The only instance in the Bible where Jesus marveled over someone’s faith
was the centurion who believed his servant could be healed by just one word
from Jesus.
Pause
right there. We’ve heard this story many
times growing up in church but let’s pause and ponder this. A Roman.
Of the people most opposed to the Jews.
The very people who would carry out His crucifixion. Not just a Roman, but a centurion! A man of war, not peace. A man known for pushing the power of Rome,
not the power of God!
Yet
Jesus said he had more faith than anyone in Israel! He believed that Jesus didn’t have to travel
to his house to heal his servant, Jesus only had to utter one sound and his
servant would be healed.
Wow! Do you have centurion-sized faith? Do I?
That prayer request that you have prayed, begged, and pleaded with God
to answer—do you believe He can answer in just one word? When circumstances scream otherwise, do you
believe with everything you’ve got that Christ can rescue you with one solitary
word?
Jesus
marveled at this man’s faith. He must
have looked at the Jewish leaders standing nearby and thought, “A pagan gets
it. A Gentile gets it. It’s my own people who don’t get it.”
Notice
the progression of the timeline of events here.
Jesus has just preached the Sermon on the Mount and told the people to
love their enemies. Then He heals a man
with leprosy—definitely someone viewed as unclean and an enemy of the health of
Israel. Now Jesus is healing the servant
of a Roman, a powerful physical enemy of the Jews. Jesus is proving the validity of His message
to love your enemies right in front of their eyes.
And
if that wasn’t enough, Jesus told them that this Roman, this pagan, had more
faith than Israel did! Wow, what a punch
in the gut that must have been for them, to see a Roman’s faith exalted,
further proving that Christ had not just come for the Jews but for the whole
world!
In your
classroom, don’t doubt that the child is going to understand the math. Exercise your centurion-sized faith. Don’t fall
into the trap of believing that your administration is always going to fail
you…use that centurion-sized faith.
I ask you, “Do you have faith that Christ
marvels over?” It can’t be easy for
Jesus to marvel---He’s JESUS! He created
everything, breathed life into our very souls—yet marveled over this man’s
faith.
If
faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, imagine what awesome
things can be done for the kingdom
(and in our classrooms!) if
you and I exercise centurion-sized faith!
Classroom Connections and Life
Applications:
1. In what areas of your life do you
need to exercise centurion-sized faith?
2. In what area of your classroom do
you need to exercise centurion-sized
faith?
3.What is one way you can show centurion-sized faith in a student today?
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