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Tuesday 18 January 2011

Matthew 8:5-13 - Learn the right lessons from life

The Roman Centurion would have been in charge of a 100 men, and his servant was seriously ill.
Jesus asks "shall I come and heal him?". This is quite different from Jesus response to other people, and indeed to other Gentiles (non-Jews). Why was this? Possibly because he was a Gentile, perhaps also because He knew the faith that was in the man, so was drawing this out of him, both for the man's benefit, and for the benefit of others. 
The Centurion had authority and would be used to being obeyed. Now he learnt the correct lessons from this. He did not have too high an opinion of himself, but recognised that Jesus was a greater man than he. At the same time he knew what authority was, and so knew that Jesus could heal his servant by simply commanding that it be so.
So there are two main lessons we can learn from this. The specific one is the authority that Jesus has, and respecting and believing in that authority. Trusting Jesus is actually a simple matter, far simpler than we make it. We need to train ourselves to stop fretting and start trusting.
The second lesson is that we should learn the correct lessons from our lives. We all face different circumstances and situations in our lives, we should make sure that we do not waste time complaining about our situations, but instead learn the right lessons. Two people can go through very difficult circumstances, one will come out with a gentle and loving spirit, the other bitter and twisted. Two other people can be tremendously blessed. One will come out with a very generous and grateful attitude, the other full of greed and contempt for others.
Let us make sure we learn the right lessons.

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