How's your faith doing?

In Matthew chapter 8, verses 5-13, there is an incredible story told of a soldier who comes to Jesus to seek his healing power.

Jesus had just come down off the mountain after preaching the most powerful sermon in history! This centurion has a servant whom he loved and had an incredible trust in. He simply describes to Jesus that his servant is paralyzed and greatly suffering. Jesus responds to him by asking the centurion if he would like him to come and heal him. The centurion then tells Jesus that he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof, and to just speak the word and he truly believes that his servant will be healed from a distance by the Savior. Jesus is so impressed with the faith of this centurion that he announces to the crowd that he has never seen so much faith in all of Israel!

Jesus then makes a very stern faith, or more of a lack of faith statement, that we should pay very close attention to. He says that when the final heavenly feast is set and many come to take their place with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown out into darkness where there is pain and gnashing of teeth. What Jesus is warning the people about is that those who should have had the incredible faith of this centurion didn’t. The people of Israel who have had Moses, the Law and the Prophets who drew the perfect picture of Jesus throughout the Old Testament, didn’t develop the faith they were supposed to.

Now on to us and the powerful question, “how’s your faith doing?” We have the entire Holy Scriptures about God’s incredible plan of salvation from beginning to end, so our faith should be very strong and vibrant. But is it where it needs to be? Do we have the faith that moves mountains? Do we have the faith that the woman, who gave the two mites, which was all she had, to the temple, trusting that God would provide? Do we have the faith of the woman who knew that if she could just reach out and touch the hem of his garment, that she would be healed? This is the kind of faith that Jesus is looking for!

Or are we like the man in Mark chapter 9, whose son had an impure spirit, and asked Jesus, if he can, to do something. Jesus’ response was, “If I can? Everything is possible to him who believes or has faith.” The man knew that Jesus saw the doubt in him and begged Jesus to help his unbelief.

Church, we need the kind of faith that moves mountains! The kind of faith that has us on our knees in prayer to heal the sick, seek forgiveness, show mercy, and provide for the poor. This is the type of faith that Jesus seeks, and we must be evaluating our faith on a daily basis! We do not want to be lacking in faith when our Lord comes again!

Jesus told a parable about prayer in Luke 18:1-8. In verse 8, he finishes with a very profound question about faith on earth. It says, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Church, what the world needs now, more than ever, is the faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that can move mountains. Let the reader believe!

If you have a question about God’s Word, God Himself, or of a Christian spiritual nature, please send it to me at [email protected] and I will do my best, using scripture, to get you an answer.

We invite you to join us at College Hill Church of Christ, 1102 College Blvd., every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. for worship, or follow us on Facebook at College Hill Church of Christ Alva Oklahoma. We are a fellowship of believers that follow God’s Word and love everyone. Come worship with us!