Come closer to Jesus!

Matthew 8:5-11 

When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. The centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.’

Food for thought 

Many people are like this Centurion. And many of us are going through what this Centurion is going through. He was an army General in command (centurion means a general in command of 100 soldiers). He said, "For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’" 

Powerful as he may be, this man was going through a hard situation; he was professionally at the top but he was having some situation at home; in society he was big but at home he was having a terrible situation: one of his servants was "lying at home paralysed, and in great pain."

Sometimes we are like this man; we are professionally at the top but in private we are struggling with some situation; we seem to be ok on the outside but inside we are suffering; at work we are doing fine but at home we are not; we are going through some hard stuff, some problem, some impossible situation. This situation may be work related, family related, may be financial, personal or social.

Life sometimes forces us to seek Jesus. Like this man, there are moments we have to accept our weakness, our limitations, our vulnerability our humanness and our need for Jesus. 

The Lord can use any situation to bring us to our knees. He cab use a crisis in our life or in our family or in our business to bring us to himself as he did with the centurion.

In other words, reconsider your crisis or problem as a God - sent invitation to come closer to Jesus, as the Centurion did. Many times our problems take us away from the Lord; they should take us, not away from, but to Jesus. He is very close to is in moments of crisis; he is very willing to join us on our journey through suffering and agony, as he did: "I will come myself and cure him" said and says Jesus. To him be glory and honour and praise both now and forever. Amen