Faith and Humility

In family devotions the other day, we read in Luke 7:1-10 where Jesus heals the centurion's servant. Although I have heard this story a whole bunch of times, I noticed something that I had never noticed before.

When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. And a centurion's slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, "He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue." Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. "For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith." When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

I found it really interesting and amazing that these Jewish elders came to Jesus and told Him that this centurion was worthy of Jesus coming and healing the servant. Obviously, none of us are worthy of Him... and yet to have people say something like that about you is pretty incredible. He even took the time to build the synagogue for the Jews. Anyway, the thing that really stuck out to me is that these people all said he was worthy and then when Jesus was coming, he didn't even feel worthy to see Jesus face to face, but sent someone else to deliver the message that he was unworthy of Jesus' presence. He had great faith, yes, but he also seems to have been living in the reality of who Jesus was and had great humility toward God.

What a great example for me... great faith with great humility. I need greater awareness of who He is in comparison to who I am so that I live in the reality of how great He is.

More of Him

Bible study at Cal Baptist started back up tonight... such a blessing as usual. Christina was loaded with homework, so she didn't end up coming with me (which was kind of nice because I got to spend much time in prayer out loud). :) I like to pray out loud in the car in order to keep myself focused. It really was a great time of fellowship with Him, but the thing that really pressed on my heart is that I need Him more than ever right now. I was thinking of all the big life decisions coming up in the next year or so and thinking that I really can't do life without Him... I need Him to be the center of these decisions more than anything else!

I was speaking of all the things He is to me... my life, my breath, my savior, my redeemer, my friend, my God, my all-sufficient sacrifice, my righteousness, my rock, my protector, my provider, the only way, my light, my guide, my only source of wisdom, my desire to do good, my hope, my everlasting king, my refuge, my fortress, etc. The more I thought about just how much He is, the more I realized just how much I need Him... and I realize that I will never get to the point where I know how much I need Him. I need Him far beyond what I can even imagine.

On the way home from Bible study, I was listening to a sermon which was actually more geared toward marriage, but the point that the pastor was making is that as we enter more things... work, marriage, kids, etc... with each new thing, we need more of the Holy Spirit. I love how God works like that... He got the pre-Bible study message across and then followed up with a post-Bible study message. :) Anyway, I am more convinced than ever before that I need more of Him. Please pray to this end!

God Uses People

It's been a really long time since I've posted here. Life has been full of many things such as, grandpa's memorial service, team handball in Chicago, organizing of a mission trip, work, school, stitches, etc. God is good, but I greatly miss writing here in that going back and reading the things I have written are a blessing to me as I reflect on what He has done in my life.

Anyway, I was reading in Joshua 1 this evening and noticed something that I hadn't noticed previously. This is a prime example of how God uses people to communicate His message. Throughout the chapter (verses 6, 7, and 9), God is telling Joshua to be strong and courageous. In verse 18, God uses the people to communicate this message to Joshua as well!

They answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous."

It seems weird that God would say it four times like that... until I think of my life and how much I need Him to continually remind me of what He has called me to do. I am so thankful for the godly influences in my life continually reminding me of who I am in Christ and what I am supposed to do. It's also a good reminder to me that I need to be God's instrument more in the area of pointing people toward Him in their actions.