An Outsider's Faith
August 26, 2006
Jesus; Faith
Luke 7:1-10

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!" (Luke 7:9, NLT).

This passage may not seem so astounding at first glance, but read it again and look at who showed faith in Jesus. You may be as amazed as Jesus was.

A Roman officer asked this Jewish teacher, Jesus, to come to his house and heal his servant. Typically the Romans were political and religious enemies of the Jewish people. But this Roman wasn't like other Romans; he was kind to the Jews.

But more important than his kindness was his faith in God.

When he heard that Jesus was in the neighborhood, he asked some Jewish friends to go talk to Him. But his great example of faith came when he sent a second group to tell Jesus that He didn't need to come to his house. The officer knew that if Jesus spoke from where He was, his servant would be healed. He recognized Jesus had great authority. And that was something he was familiar with since he told Roman soldiers what to do all day.

You may think that you have to be in church or deep in prayer for God to touch your life. That you have to "feel" God close to you.

But feeling doesn't come before faith. You could be miles away from church, and maybe feel miles away from God, but if you ask Him to speak from where He is, you know that He will hear and do whatever you ask of Him.