An Outside Perspective

From Matthew 8 -- I love this story:

^5-6As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, "Master, my servant is sick. He can't walk. He's in terrible pain."
 ⁷Jesus said, "I'll come and heal him."
 ^8-9"Oh, no," said the captain. "I don't want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I'm a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."
 ^10-12Taken aback, Jesus said, "I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God's kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up 'in the faith' but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened."
 ¹³Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, "Go. What you believed could happen has happened." At that moment his servant became well. 

The application for this story in my life has changed, which is common in our spiritual walks.  It used to reassure me that I was one of the many who (from I Peter 1:8-9) "never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation."

Now, I look to that passage in Matthew and think about my own children.  They're all "PK's," preacher's kids who have grown up in the church.  I'd love to say that they each have a strong faith and are walking daily with God.  But I'm not sure this is the case.  They know the truth, and I am confident that they'll return it.  Some of them are walking daily with Him.  But for those of my kids who are not, this scripture in Matthew struck me.  I don't want any of my girls to be on the outside thinking all along that they were on the inside. 

So having the inside scoop doesn't automatically put you in the in-crowd.

I don't want to be there either!  We all need to make sure daily that we are one of those streaming in, hungry for the Word, desperate for the companionship and lordship of the One who knows us best -- and loves us the most.  Here's to that pursuit this day, and every day --