BY GREG CRUM

“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed…When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Matthew 8:5-8 and 10

Can the uninitiated, the unlearned, and those of no religious pedigree truly have a genuine faith in God? Of Course! In fact, it seems that in Jesus’ day it was just those types of people that had the most faith in him. Fast forward almost two thousand years and you wonder if that isn’t still the case today. So many of us that have grown up in church know the right things to say, but when the rubber meets the road and true faith must be demonstrated, we fail to follow through with the check our mouths have written. Why? Well, sometimes it is because our “faith” is an assurance backed by our five senses. We can believe, but only if we see it and feel it first.

Last week we wrote that too many Christians today live by a strong faith in their five senses. It’s a byproduct of growing up in an age in which science and reason are worshipped. We trust in what we see and feel and consequently receive the end of our faith in the flesh—disappointment in not receiving what we’ve been praying for. We never receive what we desire because we must see it before we will believe it. It’s no wonder we don’t see the results that the early church saw, we don’t believe the way they did! Those men and women took God at His Word, they didn’t wait to see positive results before they moved forward in their faith walk and the end result was the transformation of the world that they lived in.