The Centurion - Pt 2

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. (Luke 7:1-7 ESV). Today we look at another important principle from this experience out of the ministry of Jesus. It is at the heart of our understanding of grace. We being with the question of what we believe we "deserve" from God. Do your sometimes think that your good behavior warrants His immediate attention? Do you think that your church attendance dictates that He perform for you? Should your position in the community determine your position within the Kingdom of God? I hope you have not made these thoughts a regular part of your daily life. However, perhaps you have known someone who expected God to bless them, because of something they had done. I see it all the time. It is interesting to me that this Roman centurion went to the elders of the Israelite church to seek out the Jesus whom he had heard about. This Roman, who probably followed Roman gods, went to another faith to seek help for his friend. When the elders take the request to Jesus, they insist that the centurion "deserves" Jesus' help, since he was such a good centurion. When Jesus does heal the man, He does it not because of the man's service, but because of the man's faith. This is an important principle of God that we need to understand. You and I are not blessed because of who we are, or what we have done, as much as we are blessed because of who he is, and what he has done. Can you sense the difference? Yes, God does reward us for faithful service, but that is done because He is a loving God, not because we are anything special. That special quality in us comes only from our relationship with Him. In fact, the Bible says that we "deserve" death because of our sins, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus! Praise Him today for not giving us what deserve, but instead giving us what we don't deserve! Thank God today for the grace he has extended to you in spite of what you have deserved!