I Am Undeserving

A Believing Army Officer

"When Jesus had finished everything he wanted to say to the people, he went to Capernaum. There a Roman army officer’s valuable slave was sick and near death. The officer had heard about Jesus and sent some Jewish leaders to him. They were to ask Jesus to come and save the servant’s life. They came to Jesus and begged, “He deserves your help. He loves our people and built our synagogue at his own expense.”

Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the officer sent friends to tell Jesus, “Sir, don’t bother. I don’t deserve to have you come into my house. That’s why I didn’t come to you. But just give a command, and let my servant be cured. As you know, I’m in a chain of command and have soldiers at my command. I tell one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

Jesus was amazed at the officer when he heard these words. He turned to the crowd following him and said, “I can guarantee that I haven’t found faith as great as this in Israel.”

When the men who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant healthy again." Luke 7:1-10


Jesus loves humility. He particularly loves one who knows what and who he is in comparison to who Jesus is.

Both Peter (in Luke 3) and now this Roman Officer (Centurion) knew they were not worthy of the presence of Jesus. They knew they are not worthy, such as John the Baptist who said he was not even worthy to untie his sandals.

All of them knew who they were speaking to, the very Son of the Almighty, the Living God, Creator of all things.

And this is why Scriptures say, without faith, it is impossible to please God. And I am not talking about blind faith.

Granted, with Peter it was easy, as he was with Jesus during His public ministry and personally witnessed all the miraculous things He did. He believed because he saw with his own eyes.

With the Centurion, he heard first hand reports and being a high ranking Roman officer, most probably verified those reports to be true.

What about us? All is not lost, we too can do our own research and investigate the claims of Scriptures and Jesus.

But the first step is always the hardest, to stay neutral and consider both sides. Then read the bible yourself and listen to the teachings of those who preach or teach the Word of God and the gospel. And then make the decision yourself.

We all have our own race to run. We can't have someone else to run it for us, in the same, we do not blindly take someone else's opinion and make it our own.