Nevertheless at Your word

Jesus appeared to be stepping out of his lane. After expert fishermen had "toiled all night and caught nothing," Jesus would command them to "launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Doesn't he know they are aware of the conditions that would make his request completely foolish to them? Yes, He knew. He wanted them to trust in more than the conditions. He wanted them not to lean on their own understand. If they will trust him, he would show them he is Lord of the conditions, the fish, and the catch to come. He wanted to know if they would trust him. And they would. The subsequent catch would set the stage for stepping into a walk of faith that would grow and change them and the World.

Later, Jesus was in Capernaum and "a certain centurion's servant, was sick and ready to die." The Centurion sent elders to Jesus in order to get him to come to his home and heal the servant. Jesus obliged. On the way, friends of the centurion met Jesus to tell him not to come. They informed Jesus that the centurion believed Jesus did not need to be there, "but say the word, and my servant will be healed."

Both stories are indicative of the kind of faith God is looking for in his children. The Apostle, intimate with the Master, were going to become world changers. The Centurion was not even an Israelite. He was a Gentile, not even one, Jesus came to during his walk on earth. Each, however, had choices to hear what Jesus claimed about himself then to believe or not. His Word would become the fulcrum on which their faith would be proven. How about you and me?

My husband says, "the church is continually looking to go deeper in The Word, yet so many don't obey the Words already clearly written." What is it that God has already commanded and we question; we doubt; we refuse; we ignore, and I could go on? We think we know better. We believe our education makes us smarter. We put our faith in common sense. We stand on our emotions. We adopt the World's way of thinking. We do everything but say, "nevertheless at Your word I will..." I will not marry an unbeliever; I will share the gospel; I will not have sex until I'm married; I will not celebrate homosexuality; I will forgive; I will not pay evil for evil; I will study to show myself approved; I will meditate on your word day and night; I will submit to my husband; I will love my wife like Christ loved the church. And on and on, Nevertheless at your word I will...

1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world... is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." Anytime we choose not to respond in obedience to God's Word, we choose the World. We choose that which is passing away. We choose the temporal over the eternal. We choose the flesh over the Spirit. We choose the momentary over what is lasting. We choose what we see over walking in faith. None of those options move us further in our faith walk. All of them dishonor God, because he can be trusted.

I love the Centurion's story, initially he wanted Jesus to come to his home. Something happened after his servants left. There were no cell phones, so he had to send his friends to catch Jesus before he took the trip to his house. He must have been around when Jesus was teaching. Maybe, this is my thinking not the text, but maybe he was there when Jesus had his disciples put down their nets after a day of catching nothing. Maybe he remembered at Jesus' word the disciples miraculously caught so many fish their boats nearly tipped over. Maybe none of this is so. But one thing is certain, he recognized the power of Jesus' word, for good. He sent his friends to tell Jesus he did not need to come, just say the word. He believed in the Word of God. He impressed Jesus. We can too. When we take him at his word, we do.

Do you believe in God's Word? Do you believe it enough to obey? That is actually easy to examine, look at your life. There are things that God's Word commands that seem to abdicate reason. I'm sure his disciple thought the same thing. Yet he chose to believe, enough to say, "nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And the blessings overflowed.