One of the most coveted prizes in a famous talent show is the Golden
Buzzer. Once one of the judges gets impressed with a contestant enough
to give him this award, the contestant can automatically advance to
the next round. And this holds true even if other judges are
unimpressed by the performance.
If our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sits as one of the judges in such
a contest, He is most likely to give the award to someone who has very
strong faith. The Bible tells us that Jesus is amazed with a person
who shows an immense faith in Him.
The Roman Centurion was especially mentioned in the New Testament for
having wowed the Messiah after he asked Him to heal his servant. The
centurion told Jesus that He does not need to come to his house to
perform the miracle, instead, all Jesus needs to do is to say the word
and the healing will take place.
“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turning to the
crowd that followed Him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I
found such faith.” Luke 7:9
If Jesus was amazed with the faith of the Centurion that He performed
the miracle he asked for, scriptures also tell us that the opposite
also astonishes the Lord. In His own hometown for instance, Jesus did
not perform a lot of miracles because his own townmates did not have
faith in Him.
“He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few
sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark
6:5-6
And so if we want to please the Lord, all we need to do is to place
genuine and immense faith in our Messiah, Jesus Christ.
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would
draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those
who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
As present-day believers our faith should not be shallow. It should
not waver when bad times come or when God seems to not hear our
requests. Praying should not only be fervent when we are facing
troubles, and then we forget about God once our prayers have been
answered.
We get to prove our faith when we continue to seek the Lord regardless
of the season we are in, and we continue to follow His commands even
if it hurts us or seems impractical.
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you
may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come
so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” 1 Peter 1:6-7
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to
ponder on 1 Peter 3:1-9 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Can you say at this point that you have an
unwavering faith? That you can praise and abide in the Lord in both
the good and the bad times?
Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for reckoning
our faith as righteousness. For allowing us to be reconciled with our
Everlasting Father, and for giving us your peace. Amen
