In the world that we live in there are so many things going on that it’s literally shaking people’s faith in the Lord. In fact, it wasn’t until I started to seek God for myself that I realized that my faith in God wasn’t what I thought it was. There are some people who make having faith and hope sound like bubblegum dreams and cotton candy, but I know without a doubt that it’s very real.
There is a section in the bible that gives the story of a Roman officer that approached Jesus and pleaded with him to heal his servant. So, Jesus was going to travel with him to his home to heal the servant. The officer told Jesus that he himself (the officer) wasn’t worthy enough for Jesus to come into his home. He asked Jesus if he would heal his servant right from where he was standing. The officer explained how he has subordinates that he has authority over and as long as he gives the orders they obey.
The Roman officer knew who Jesus was and therefore understood that he had a different type of authority. So he believed that if Jesus gave the command from right where he was standing that his servant would be completely healed. Jesus was impressed with his belief. The Israelites saw miracles performed by God through people right before their very eyes and still didn’t have faith like the Roman officer showed in the text. Jesus instructed the officer to go home and told him that since he believed, it happened and the servant was healed that same hour. (Located in Matthew 8:5-13) That just goes to show us that the Lord is not checking our bank accounts or measuring accolades, he’s checking our faith in him. Something that I’ve learned is that a good way to steadily increase our faith in God is to continue reading the bible. Only by reading the word are we able to learn what kind of father God is. When we are able to see for ourselves the characteristics of God, our faith will increase and as a result the things that happen in the world won’t shake us because we’ll be confident in Him and who He is. I know that many of us have read the word over and over frontwards and backwards, but the Bible is alive. As we open up ourselves to the word of God, old scriptures we’ve looked over multiple times become life changing. Reading is fundamental, so let’s continue to increase our faith intentionally.
