There are many great stories in today’s reading, but the one that always gets me is the story of the Centurion. The way he displays his faith to Jesus is a great example of how we should carry out our faith. In verse 8 it says “The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” There are many times when I ask Jesus for help, only to keep second guessing whether He has the will to help me. The faith of the Centurion shows his understanding of Jesus’ power and willingness to heal. Why can’t I be more like the Centurion who asks and knows that Jesus is more than capable? More importantly, why can’t I simply trust Him with the answer He gives me when it not the one I really wanted? His plan is perfect! I need to know He has a much better perspective than me!
2012 Day 25 – Matthew 8
25 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
Two things stood out to me. After Jesus heals the leper, he tells him not to say a word but that, “Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.” Not much expounding to be done on that.
The other is in the story of the madmen and the pigs. When Jesus cast the demons out, the people in the city were angry with him because the pigs had died. In Roman culture, pigs were a high profit business. Gadara was a hellenistic society allowed under Roman rule to do it’s own thing. While Jews did probably live there, it is safe to assume that the swineherders were not Jews. So Jesus walks in and ruins a huge profit margin for these folks, and the are livid. They care more about pigs than about the lives of the 2 men that have just been restored. Instead of asking Jesus to stay to bring more restoration, they drive him out, no doubt afraid that he will ruin other profit making ventures. Goes back to the love of money being an issue. It wasn’t wrong for them to keep the pigs and make money, but they cared more about that than people. How often do I do that?
After reading the book “beautiful outlaw” (thank you sarah!), i look at this chapter totally differently now. John Eldredge explains the background of what led Jesus to that night on the stormy sea.
You see, Jesus is incredibly extravagant with giving! And it’s not limited to just physical and spiritual gifts…He includes His own time and energy in that too. He literally withholds nothing of Himself. What often comes to mind is how Jesus gave His life on the cross, but what we forget is how He gave of Himself the 33 years before that one day. Every moment of every day, He had compassion on the crowds. unfortunately for Him, that compassion wore Him out! the man constantly wanted to avoid attention in cities, just so He could sneak away and SLEEP! He was always on the go, always giving of His time and energy, and continually running Himself ragged! Think about it, His love for humanity demanded He work Himself to the bone!
so when John Eldredge explains the night of the storm, he reminds us that this is one of the rare opportunities for Jesus to get a full night’s sleep. He was so tired in fact, that a raging storm that was SINKING His ship didnt even wake Him! that’s pretty freakin tired! I love this story about Jesus- we see His limitations having a human body, we see His supernatural compassion on mankind to the point of extreme exhaustion, and we see His omnipotent power that controls every aspect of the earth. Yep, we serve a pretty cool God.
Last night we discussed 18-22 in my small group and so that really stuck out to me in the reading. To follow Jesus means that we’re making a commitment and that we have to leave our previous lives behind in order to follow Him. I didn’t give that consideration when I first made a decision to accept Jesus. I didn’t do a good job of counting the cost. Now, I can’t imagine living my life any other way than as a committed follower of Jesus.