I was thinking about the faith of the centurion again.
Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7 Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
The fundamental part of faith is that it is a belief in authority.
Hebrews 11 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But what are the assurance of things hope for and conviction of things not seen? That’s faith in God’s authority to do what He said and what He promised.
It’s very easy to get distracted with how much humans are rebellious against God, but faith requires an immense trust in authority that it overrides our inclinations to be rebellious. One who fails to trust in God’s authority and act accordingly is very similar to those who choose to be intentionally rebellious. Eliminating this lukewarm faith is of primary importance.
