By saying this, Jesus was calling his own people faithless and a centurion faithful!

How often do we judge people by their appearance, their background, or their ability to say things the “right way”? Of course, Jesus doesn’t do that kind of judgment. His judgment is based on who the centurion actually is, and who he is is a man of deep confidence in the total authority of Jesus.

In the centurion’s thinking, Jesus doesn’t need to know the diagnosis of the sickness, Jesus doesn’t need to touch the sick person, Jesus doesn’t even have to be near the house. As a man with total authority, Jesus can simply declare something and it becomes reality. If Jesus says a person is well, that person will be well from the moment the word is spoken. The centurion was right.

But we’re focusing on the words of Jesus, and what he says is terribly challenging. Basically, he says that there is room in the kingdom of God only for those who live under the supreme authority of Christ. The centurion has faith in Christ’s authority so strong that he lives his life based on it, and people like that are the ones who will be welcomed into the kingdom.

Take this as a serious challenge. In Jesus eyes, it matters not what you look like, what your background is, or anything else. What matters is whether you are willing to submit yourself entirely to his authority. Are you? If you aren’t the promise of the kingdom is not for you.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: There is room in the kingdom only for those who live under Christ’s authority.

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The leper had said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” and Jesus responds with a simple, “I am willing. Be clean!”

I find myself often thinking of God as if he is playing games with me. He is holding out the promise of great blessing, but not actually delivering on that promise in my life today. I haven’t seen anyone healed in miraculous fashion before. I haven’t seen waters part, a pillar of fire guide my path, a burning bush, or a dead person come back to life.

So the simplicity of Jesus’ response challenges me. Jesus just said, “I am willing.” It’s all so effortless and easy. Is he still that willing to work in our lives? Is he still that willing to do miraculous acts? Whether he is or isn’t willing to work the same way he did back then, I choose to approach him daily the way the leper approached him—with simplicity and humility asking him to work in my life according to his will.

BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Jesus doesn’t need to be coerced. If he’s willing, he will act without delay.

Today is Sunday, and you have the opportunity to hear God’s Word spoken to you and explained to you. Do not allow the opportunity to be wasted by mere observation, listening, or missing out altogether. You must choose to hear the message and then put it into practice. In all of the Bible, the promise of a stable life is given repeatedly but only to those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

What is one thing you can do today to put God’s Word into practice?

I was standing in the kitchen when I heard the announcement on the evening news coming from the television in the next room: “The FDA suspects salmonella in many of the country’s tomatoes.” I listened to the report and promptly went to my fridge, reached to the back of the second shelf and pulled out a small package of tomatoes I had recently purchased. I looked at them. I held them under the light. I took them out of their packaging, ran them under some water and prayed, “Oh God please let these tomatoes be okay, you know how much I love them on my salad!”

In this passage Matthew gives us a report similar to the one I heard on the news that day. Setting aside the age-old argument about whether a tomato is actually a fruit or a vegetable, he informs us that we are called to be fruit inspectors. He warns that there are those who look like sheep but inside they are vicious wolves. They look fine, but, like the tainted tomatoes, once you get beneath the surface you will find that they are truly poisonous. They have the outward signs of belonging to the people of God but they really don’t have a personal relationship with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“You will know them by their fruits,” verse 16. This is not justification by works but the indispensable evidence of justification by faith. This is not to say that outward works are irrelevant. Titus 2:14 says that our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, EAGER TO DO WHAT IS GOOD” (emphasis mine). The distinction can be summed up this way:

External obedience, that is, outward works, do not always indicate a right condition of heart, but, a right condition of heart will always produce good works.

The ability to do good works is not a guarantee that you are a Christian. But someone who is savingly known by Jesus will naturally evidence it by a life that reflects the character of Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).

Authenticity in the Christian life is a serious matter.

Do you know God?

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

When you hear or read what God has done for sinners in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, does this appear in your heart as a great and glorious thing? If you can utter an earnest “Yes!” then you have warrant to rest in gospel for your salvation. I love the fact that Jesus says “I never knew you.” He does not say, “I knew you at one time but I no longer know you,” nor “I knew you at one time but you strayed away from me.” but rather, “I NEVER knew you.” Unbelievers never come to see the glory of Christ as compellingly glorious. These people only want fire insurance. But genuine believers want more than rescue from harm. They see Christ as being more beautiful and desirable than all else. This is why the Apostle Paul could say, after many years as a Christian and full-time minister, “…my determined purpose is that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly]…” (Philippians 3:10, Amplified Bible)

He’s coming again soon. Know Him well!

The toughest parts of the Bible are perhaps the promises of great things which seem to be given in the form of blanket guarantees despite the reality of a world where they don’t seem to come true. This verse seems like one of them. How is it that God can give a promise like “Ask and it will be given to you”? How can he say, “Everyone who asks receives”?

We live in a world where these promises apparently aren’t true. I have prayed many prayers and have asked for many things where the answer I asked for wasn’t given. I asked, but I didn’t receive. Is that proof that God was playing a trick on us when Jesus said these words? I don’t think so.

Let’s just consider a few ways to understand these verses:

1. Perhaps we have read them backwards. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t mean that all requests will be granted but that only those who ask receive. This doesn’t make sense with the use of the word “everyone” though.
2. Perhaps we are reading the word “receives” wrong. Perhaps everyone who asks receives //something// even if it isn’t what was requested. This also doesn’t seem to go along with the rest of the verse.

A third option, however, may be the most reasonable. In the second half of this passage, Jesus uses the word “ask” a second time and tells us that God will give “good gifts” to those who ask him. Perhaps the issue is that we aren’t asking for the right things. Perhaps Jesus is saying that everyone who asks for what is good will receive it.

From this perspective, we can understand that if we ask and don’t get our request fulfilled, then our request was for something that wasn’t as good as whatever God actually has planned. The bottom line is that God cares for us more than we know, and that he is eager to give us good things.

BIG IDEA: Let’s be careful what we ask for but never be cautious to ask.