-- Wednesday, 8/10/11 -- SUCH GREAT FAITH - Matthew 8:5-13

[J.R. & Bonnie Ricks]

Take a Minute is a daily devotional ministry of

Dogwood Ministries, Inc.

If you need prayer… contact our partners in ministry…

 SJ Ministries - Ministry of Prayer

Or simply send your request to SJMini...@aol.com

All other requests, please see the end of the devotional

for Dogwood Ministries addresses

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUCH GREAT FAITH – Matthew 8:5-13

 

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.  “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

 

Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

 

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.  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.”

 

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  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.  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

 

A centurion was an officer in the Roman army who commanded 100 men.  It was a respected position of authority.  He had all sorts of reasons to not have faith in Jesus.  Pride in his own position, the racial issue between Romans and Hebrews, social status (a centurion was far above Jesus!), the fact that the centurion was well off financially while Jesus didn’t own anything but the clothing on His back… all of these and more were reasons why the centurion would be the last person one might expect to express faith in Jesus.  No wonder Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith!

 

But Jesus’ amazement didn’t stop there… He was also amazed at the sad, stagnant faith of the Jewish leaders.  The centurion’s faith put them to shame!  They were so entrenched in their religious traditions that they eventually would be excluded from the Kingdom of God due to their lack of faith! 

 

We can find the same thing happening in today’s churches… people so deeply entrenched in religious traditions that they have no faith at all… people so focused on “this is the way that we’ve always done it” that they can’t see Jesus at all.  Oh, they may give Him lip service, and even sing the hymns with gusto on Sunday mornings – that is, if the music is traditional hymns and not “that contemporary junk”… people who are appalled that someone might raise his or her hands in worship or shout “Amen!” when the preacher says something particularly moving, claiming that the raised hands or the shouted approval are “distracting”… people who refuse to deviate from the planned lesson in a Bible study when a visitor asks questions that don’t fit with “the plan”, ignoring the Holy Spirit’s promptings that this person is seeking Jesus and needs help finding Him… people who insist that “reverence” can only be accomplished in total silence with serious facial expressions and zero body movement, ignoring things like Psalm 150 which says, in part…

 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals. 

Psalm 150:3-5

 

Now, don’t take this the wrong way… there is nothing wrong with traditional hymns.  In fact, they were considered “radical, contemporary” music in their time.  And there’s nothing wrong with a person who does not raise his hands during worship or with someone who does not shout “Amen” during the sermon.  There’s nothing wrong with quiet worship, or with having a lesson plan and insisting on sticking by it when someone disturbs the class with trivial actions or words.  Problems can arise in the opposite direction, when someone insists that ALL worship has to be loud, or it’s not worship… or any number of other attitudes.

 

The point is that when a person becomes so entrenched in the traditions of his religion, he misses what’s truly important.  By wrapping ourselves in “tradition”, we limit God and what He can do in our lives.  Blessings pass us by that would be ours if we’d get our eyes off of tradition and onto Jesus. 

 

Don’t let tradition cause you to miss out on what God wants to do in your life.  Remember, great faith doesn’t come from “how we’ve always done it”…

 

Think about it.

 

All Bible quotes contained in these devotionals are from the New International Version 1984 (NIV1984), unless otherwise specified.

--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--

Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DogwoodMinistries and become a Fan!

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TakeAMinute" group.

To unsubscribe from this group, send email with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line to J-R-and...@dogwoodministries.org 

For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute

General correspondence or to subscribe to Take a Minute: J-R-and...@dogwoodministries.org

Donations to Dogwood Ministries:  http://www.dogwoodministries.org

Personal correspondence to Bonnie Ricks:  bon...@dogwoodministries.org

Personal correspondence to J.R. Ricks: j...@dogwoodministries.org

--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--