This morning, my Bible reading started out in Luke 7. I normally have a set quota I try to read daily unless something hits me hard that I need to process and pray about.
I was done at verse 7.
This is the story about Jesus healing the centurion’s servant. You may remember the passage because Jesus tells the centurion that he’s never seen faith like his. Pretty incredible compliment from the Master! But there is a repeated word in this section that I never noticed before. The word is “worthy.”
The religious leaders of the day come to Jesus (they normally don’t like him), and plead with Jesus to heal this centurion’s servant. Why? Because he is “worthy.” They actually say, “He is worthy to have you do this for him.” He is nice to us. He built our house of worship. We like him. He is worthy of God’s favor now.
But then you make your way over to when Jesus actually meets the centurion, and he says,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”
It’s interesting to see that religious people find acts of service at making you worthy to receive blessings from God. Non-religious people understand that no matter what you do in this life, you are still not worthy of anything from Jesus.
I pray I never get to the point that I think I deserve anything from Jesus. I pray after years of dedicated service, money spent on expanding the Kingdom, hours served in ministry, miles recorded on the mission field, and energy spent on spreading his love that I never, and I mean never, come to the audacious place where I think Jesus owes me anything.
I was dead. I am no alive. I didn’t deserve that, and I surely don’t deserve another thing.
Jesus, help me remember today that I am worthless. Nothing I do impresses you or changes your attitude towards me. Instead of trying to impress you, may I live today impressed by you since you could love a worthless person like me.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.