Amazing Faith

Monday, January 19th, 2026

5:03 am

Good morning! Today I am in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Jesus heads back to Capernaum, on the way a Roman officer sent some Jewish elders to meet Him and ask Him to heal his young servant that was lying in bed, paralyzed, and in terrible pain. Jesus told them that He would, so He started on His way over there. Before He got there though, the officer sent some of his friends to meet Jesus and tell Him that He does not have to trouble Himself to come to his house because he was not worthy enough for Jesus to be in his home. And that he knows that all Jesus has to do is say that the young servant is healed, and it would be so, because he knew that Jesus had the authority to do so. Jesus was amazed by the officers faith, and turned to the crowd that was following Him and told them that He had not seen faith like this anywhere in Israel. Matthew adds that He also told the crowd that many Gentiles from all over the world would be seated at the table in heaven by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but many Israelites would be thrown out into outer darkness. Then Jesus told the friends to go back, because they believed the young servant was healed, he was.

The officer had amazing faith. He believed that Jesus could do what He said, without even being in the same place as the sick boy. The officer did not allow social status or race to stand between him and Jesus, and neither did Jesus. Jesus came to save everyone, which is very clear by what He said in Matthew 8:11. He does not care about where you came from or what your background is. He only cares about our faith.

What do you believe? Do you have faith that Jesus is who He says He is, and will do what He says He will do? We must not let our circumstances stop us from believing in Jesus and why He came. Just like this Roman officer, that came from a completely different background than Jesus, and was probably not even raised to believe in the Jewish God, didn't allow His position to stop Him from coming to Jesus. We also must not allow those differences to stop us from helping those that are different from us. God wants us to look past those things and see the people for who they are, and the help they need from Him. We will not get to heaven based on the faith of our loved ones, but we must build that faith for ourselves, and help others see the importance of building their faith in Jesus as well. Do not let barriers stop you from trusting Jesus, and from helping those around you. Allow God to use you today. Have faith that He will do what He said He would do for you in His Word.