Tag: faith

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The Faith of the Centurion

old couple holding hands in hospital

The word for faith comes from the root word peitho, which means to be persuaded. In all references, it is a divine persuasion and is therefore distinguished from belief. Where belief is something we do, faith is something we receive. We have faith because God has proved himself to be true, righteous, and just. A prime example is that demons can believe but they do not have faith: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder!” (James 2:19 ESV). There is an abundance of scriptures that show our faith is received from God. Colossians 2:6-7 says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus as the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Faith is vital to our spiritual wellbeing. In Luke 7, a centurion’s servant fell ill. The centurion sent Jewish elders to Jesus to plead with him to heal the servant. The centurion was friendly to Jews and even built a synagogue. Jesus went with the elders and when he got close to 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'” (vs. 6). “When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith'” (vs. 9).

When the friends returned to the house, they found the servant well. We can either accept the faith or reject it. The centurion chose to accept God’s faith in abundance and Jesus was quite pleased. We often forget that faith comes from God and so we think we can “work on our faith.” A much better approach is to be like the centurion and fully accept the faith. Like the apostles, we should pray, “Lord increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5).

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We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

empty road leading towards high mountains with clouds above

Paul reminded the Corinthian church that our heavenly home is guaranteed. He said, “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:6-7 ESV). We all know that our faith walk to Heaven, if left to our own vices, is not a straight path. We have many ups and downs in life, including many successes and also life-shattering disappointments. However, Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

The only way to make the path straight is to trust God, acknowledge Him in all we do, and only then will he make our paths straight. James tells us how important it is to ask in faith in the context of meeting trials: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). In fact, he says the one who doubts is double-minded and is unstable in all his ways. That’s a very strong statement, and it shows the importance that faith has in our life.

As we strain toward the goal of Heaven, we need to keep all of our faith in God. Man will let us down, but God provides. His salvation is beautiful and we Christians have a hope that others don’t. Our faith guides us and will keep on on the straight path. If we attempt to live by what we see, we will fail every time. We choose to walk by faith, always!

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If They Don’t Hear How Will they Know?

men wearing robe and scarf

Paul told the Roman church that everyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart will be saved, whether Jew or Greek (Romans 10:9-13). The Roman church had an issue with Greek believing Christians taking over the synagogues when the Jews were expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius. The Jews were rumored to have made disturbances at the instigation or “Chrestus” (a misspelling of the Greek word Chrestos, or Christ). When the Jewish Christians were allowed back into Rome, the Greeks sort of pulled rank. The Jewish Christians appealed to being Jewish and being the reason they believed in God in the first place. It created tension in the Roman church and Paul wrote a letter to put them all on equal ground.

Now that Paul establishes that the Gospel is for all people, he turns to the need for Christians to confess and to preach: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14 ESV). These are perfectly valid questions and they, of course, are rhetorical.

There is a dire need for people to preach. Millions of people are dying without ever having heard the Good News of Jesus. Our faith comes from hearing: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (vs. 17). If we are not investing in the sharing of the kingdom, God’s word will never be heard by people.

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Encourage People To Remain In the Faith

we ll get through it lettering text on black background

The apostle Paul was an encourager. He had put Christians through the wringer by persecuting them, even to the point of death. It’s no secret that Paul considered Christians to be blasphemers and he singlehandedly wrecked the lives of many innocent people. As Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians, a man named Ananias saw a vision and the Lord told him that he would meet a man named Saul. Terrified, Ananias said that he heard all that Saul had done to the Christians. The Lord replied, “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16 ESV).

A long time after Paul was converted he began his mission journeys. He was stoned and left for dead at Timothy’s home village of Lystra. But Paul got up and went on to Derbe the next day. What happened next is incredible: “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21, 22).

Many people are struggling in life. Like the apostle Paul, many will suffer for the name of Jesus. But we should encourage them to remain in the faith even when our lives are a mess. Paul never gave up. He consistently taught people who God is. He suffered severely yet never gave up treating people with kindness and teaching them who God is. He was always thankful for what God provided and never lost his focus.

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Don’t Be Right, Be Faithful

a close up shot of a woman holding a rosary while praying

We spend much of our life attempting to be “right” as Christians. We want to know that we have the right answers, the right interpretation of the scriptures, and the right arguments to disarm people with wrong information. It’s great to be a student of the scriptures but our lot in life isn’t to be right. It’s to be faithful. When we are faithful God shows up in the most powerful ways.

The entire chapter 11 in Hebrews is about people who walked by faith. Many of them didn’t know what the future held or the troubles they would encounter. They only knew that God made a promise to them, and they were faithful. Abraham lived in tents for years and years, having no idea where he was going: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (vs. 8).

The author of Hebrews says that there were many people like Abraham who endured suffering or who waited for the promise. God delivered every time. Abraham became a father of many nations. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Noah saved his family and began a new world. Even in their faith, they didn’t receive what they were promised, “since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (vs. 39, 40). We were promised something far better than even those giants of faith. Without our faith, those people from the past are not made perfect. Our faith really, really matters.

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Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

cute family picture

In the gospel of Matthew Jesus was still talking to the crowd about not blaspheming the Holy Spirit and told the story about a person who had seven evil spirits return when his family appeared. His mother and brothers asked to talk with him. Luke said that they could not get to him because of the crowd.

But he replied to the man, “Who is my other, and who are my brothers?” (Matthew 12:48 ESV). He then pointed to his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (vs 49, 50). Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have one thing in common with this story: this story is sandwiched between Jesus’ speeches about not hiding/squandering their faith.

Those stories include the parable of the sower, the parable of the weeds, the parable of the hidden treasure, the lamp under the stand, and so on. Jesus’ point that those who do the will of God are his family members was reinforced and even magnified by all the parables the precede and follow. It’s clear that Jesus puts the most emphasis on being doers of God’s word. He also makes a strong contrast between those who get “chocked out” of their faith by the worries of this world and those who set their roots down deep and grow. Being doers of God’s will requires tremendous discipline.

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Hannah Was a Praying Woman

woman in white hijab praying

Hannah is one of my favorite Bible characters. Her faith in God was unwavering, even when she was mistreated and was barren. Hannah never gave up believing that God would do something incredible in her life. This is extremely challenging to do when our world is being torn apart. When things (and especially when people) are against us, it shifts our world view and makes us feel like the whole world is against us. This is where people can begin to lose hope, believing that nothing will ever change and that their destiny is to have mayhem in their lives.

This would have been an easy conclusion for Hannah to come to, but she remained faithful. One day she was at the temple, deeply distressed and weeping bitterly to the Lord. Hannah made a vow that day: “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head” (1 Samuel 1:11 ESV).

Hannah became pregnant and named her son Samuel, which means “God has heard.” She was true to her promise and dedicated Samuel to the Lord, dropping him off at the temple after he was weaned. Samuel was trained by Eli the priest and became one of the greatest leaders of Israel. It was only because of Hannah’s prayers that all of this happened this way. She had the faith that God would hear, and God was faithful in answering.