No One is Safe

Reality: No One is Safe
Read Luke 7:1-10

There are certain ominous events that money power and influence can’t solve. For example, being the CEO of a large corporation doesn’t guarantee that your kids won’t get sick, that you won’t get stiffed by a close friend, or that you won’t meet the drunk going the wrong way down the interstate. It’s impossible to have total control and to think that you can control the outside forces and the random events hints toward an intense naïveté.  When we find ourselves dodging the debris of this world’s tornadic onslaught, we search for something or Someone greater than us- Someone who is familiar with the miraculous and also one who was familiar with pain and injustice.  

One this particular day in the life of Jesus, a veteran soldier displays two admirable character qualities: faith and humility. Some people have humility but they don’t have faith. They know the absolute superiority of Jesus over everything and they recognize their inadequacy in comparison to Jesus, but they lack the understanding that Jesus will act on their behalf.  Many times this is because they see their inadequacy more powerful than Christ’s grace. They don’t ask of God because they don’t view themselves as worthy in Christ. Peterson in the message Bible translates Paul’s argument against this worldview:

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! 

Romans 8:15-17 TMB

Others have the faith but not the humility. They live with an ever-increasing sense of entitlement. They’ve tossed their humility and demand that God give them things they deserve. They have a much higher view of themselves and view God as some kind of formulaic recipe for getting what they deserve.