Is God real?

In review of Luke 7:1-10 it says:

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”

6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” 10 And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

In this passage Jesus has an interaction with a career soldier that leaves Jesus “amazed.”  The Roman officer was a good man who treated the people well. The officer was also a man of great faith. He understood the power of authority and asked and had faith that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Given this, he could heal without even actually visiting. The Roman officer had great humility and did not consider himself worthy of even having Jesus come and meet him.

The Roman officer was humble enough to understand his place and had the faith to know that only requesting healing would bring it about. This Roman officer showed greater faith than anyone else and Jesus commended him for this.

It would be great to say or do something that amazes the most amazing person who ever walked the earth? At the heart of the officer’s startling response to Jesus is a simple truth: He believes Jesus is God. That means he believes Jesus has both the power and authority to do the impossible, to heal his beloved servant who is “sick and near death.” Only God can do such a thing, and the centurion knows it. So he does something that delights Jesus: He simply acts on what he knows to be true and asks Jesus for the kind of help only God can give.

This morning I ask myself if there are some things in my life that I am not trusting to Jesus. Like the Roman officer, I would like to strive to have the kind of faith that can say, "only say the word and it will be done." I often get caught up into wanting to see something first hand, but I need to remember that God can do anything. My faith will often reflect on how much I trust God.