JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Person of Integrity from the Bible is a centurion with faith.
He encountered Jesus in Luke chapter 7. His highly valued servant was sick and dying, and so he sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him to come and heal his servant.
His message to Jesus was so filled with faith that the Bible says that Jesus was amazed at him. What did he say that was so astonishing?
He said, “Say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’ and he goes.”
This man understood that just as his soldiers moved at his word, so sickness had to move at the command of Jesus. So, if Jesus would just say the word, then the centurion was confident that his servant would be healed. Jesus said about this man, “I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” The servant was then healed of his sickness.
The faithfulness of the Centurion to trust in the words of Jesus inspires us to believe the word of God and to live a life of integrity.
John Shirk
john@wjtl.com
JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Exploration, today’s Reason to Believe is the declaration of the Centurion who stood by the cross.
On the day when Jesus died, Matthew 27:54 records the response of a centurion and those nearby. “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God.’”
There were a number of extraordinary circumstances surrounding the crucifixion. In the middle of the day, darkness came over the land.
At the death of Jesus, there was an earthquake that caused the rocks to split. The curtain of the temple was torn in two. And Matthew’s Gospel records that tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
Another extraordinary circumstance was the way Jesus prayed for those who were crucifying Him. He prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
The Centurion was perceptive to the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ death and concluded that Jesus was not an ordinary man.
The exclamation of the Centurion acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God is a reason to believe in God’s good news.
John Shirk
john@wjtl.com
