Marvel - ous!

(pinterest.com)

There’s a story in the Bible that always catches my attention, one that sends my brain into a tizzy of ponderings.


When you’re in the presence of someone you perceive to have greatness, there’s a secret longing in your heart to capture their attention, if only for a moment.


While at a Reba McIntire concert a few years back, my youngest son screamed out to her from the crowd at the foot of the stage, “I love you Reba!” To his great pleasure, she looked right at him, pointed and said, “I love you, too, darlin’!” For an instant, he had Reba McIntire’s attention. He’ll cherish the memory forever. Reba? Maybe not. She just doesn’t know the greatness of my son!


The Bible story (here) is one that most of us will quickly recall. Jesus was talking with a crowd of people when an unnamed Centurion approached Him, asking for healing for his servant. Jesus made Himself immediately available and said that He’d come heal the servant. The Centurion stopped the whole incident in an instant when he stated simply that he wasn’t worthy of the Master’s presence in His home, but that because of Jesus’s authority, His Word would be enough to heal the servant. 


What happened next? 
What was the reaction on Jesus’s face? 
Where did the conversation go after such a statement?


We don’t get to see the faces in the crowd, or of the disciples, but we can conjure up imagery of what splashed across the face of Jesus. The Bible tells us that He marveled.


Ponder that.


Jesus marveled. 

Jesus marveled over the faith of a believer. Other versions of the Bible say that Jesus was amazed, or that He was astonished, or taken aback; surprised.


We don’t have any record of this Centurion ever interacting with Jesus again. 

The story is brief, but always commands my attention, every single time I read it. How could I make Jesus marvel? What about my faith would cause amazement to rise up on His face?


What was it about this Centurion’s faith that allowed him to take Jesus at His Word?


We don’t read that he sat at the feet of Jesus, listening intently to every teaching He shared. We don’t have any other account of how this guy chose to believe on Jesus, but he clearly demonstrates faith like few of us have, or have even seen.


If we could grasp ahold of this, and simply believe, like the Centurion, we might just cause Jesus to marvel. And we’ll definitely see what we ask for come to pass, because this is the kind of faith Jesus is looking for. 

Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being sure of what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1 (NIRV)


Who believes like this?

Sitting at the Lake

(photo from dissolve.com)

Jesus looked more tangible to me today, more fleshed-out, as I read in Matthew, “That day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake…he got into a boat and sat in it…” -Matthew 13:1-2 (KJV)

Can’t you just picture a man who’s staying at a lake house, walking out the door, making his way down to the beach and sitting down beside the lake?

I don’t know what time of day it was, but from personal experience, walking out to the lake first thing in the morning, as the mist rises from the water, is magical. Sitting there, listening to the sounds of creation, watching birds dive into the water for their breakfast, smelling the pines – it all filled my happy tank to overflowing. 

(photo from newspring.cc)

When God created the first Garden, He created man to take care of it. Clearly, it meant a lot to Him, right? I mean, as you’re reading Genesis, that’s the only reason I’ve noted, that God states He created us for: to take care of what He’d created. He takes as much joy in nature as we do, maybe more!

So, yes, this man at the lake house, ventures out and sits by the lake. Don’t you wonder what was going through His mind? Was He thoroughly enjoying His physical senses as He sat there? Sometimes we need to be reminded to be mindful of where we are; I somehow doubt Jesus missed a thing.

In the first chapter of John, we read that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word WAS God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men,” (verses 1-4 KJV)

(photo from pixabay.com)

Since Jesus is the Word, we can see that He is the One Who spoke everything into existence. I hardly think He sat there and thanked Himself, but rather, took in the beauty of what He’d created. (He really should have come to sit by a lake in Colorado! Ha! Who’s to say He hasn’t?)

For me, sitting there was about taking in what I saw, as well as thanking God for showing it to me, for allowing me to enjoy the breathtaking beauty, and be a part of it all.

Matthew doesn’t tell us how long Jesus sat there, but he does say that a crowd began to grow around him, so he got into a boat and sat down, then began to speak to them.

The very One Who spoke everything into existence was speaking to them! In the flesh, out loud in an audible voice, they could see and hear the very One Who’d created them.

(from pinterest.com)

For us, it’s an inner thing, an inner knowing that comes from the Word of God. Yes, our hearing comes from Jesus, Himself. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing from the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (KJV)

All of this, not to introduce you to what He was about to teach, but to introduce the notion that it was Jesus – the man, Who was speaking to them. The same Jesus Who speaks to your heart every single day, whether you’re paying attention or not.

Perhaps, by closing our eyes and imagining ourselves there with Him, by the lake, sitting at rest, taking it all in – we can hear Him a little more clearly. That opens us up to falling in love with Him, completely.

(from pinterst.com)