today we see a striking example of someone listening to his life. one of my all time favorite writers is Frederick Buechner, and in pretty much all of his books he teaches something very important... God speaks to us in the daily ins and outs of our daily lives. and if we learn to listen, we will hear Him speaking to us every day.
the Roman centurion in today's reading does a great job of listening to his life. first, he somehow sees that God favors the children of Israel, and so he takes care of them, even (according to Luke) building them a synagogue.
then, his servant falls sick. now, it's easy to miss this next lesson. but the centurion, who is obviously a powerful person in charge of many people (something like 100?) cares so much for his servant, who is basically a slave, that he asks Jesus to come heal him. that's also listening to his life, and seeing a person in need who he can help.
finally, we see the part of the story where he demonstrates a faith so strong that Jesus commends him and says He hasn't seen that kind of faith in all of Israel. but notice how the centurion LEARNS this faith... that's easy to miss. he listened to his life. he noticed that, as a man of authority, he doesn't personally have to go to a certain place for things to happen there. he can just command it.
he notices that Jesus is also a man of authority (notice how he's listening?) and can do the same thing. so, realizing that Jesus is a very busy man with many demands on His time (also listening) he simply asks Him to do what he does every day - command it, and he's sure it will happen.
God speaks to us in our every day lives, too. He is using the birds and rain and beauty of nature to teach us things every day. He is speaking to us every day. we just need "ears to hear" what He is saying.
God, please give me ears to hear what you're saying to me today.
1 comment:
So much to learn from the centurion. He knew of his own authority and he could see the tremendous authority in Christ. Wow, why can't we or why don't we tap in to his faith and listened and believe. God shows us as Jeff said in the beauty around us. Stop listen and see.
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