Under His Authority

For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Matthew 8:9

Did this Roman fellow just claim a kinship with our Lord Jesus? And then does not our Lord marvel at the faith in this Gentile man? Our Lord Jesus was a man under authority, that is the authority of God. A man raised in the pagan empire of Rome recognized the coming of the one God and saw His Son, and then asked of our Lord Jesus a favor. He asked in faith and did not doubt, and he also knew that he was not worthy to have Jesus the Lord under his roof. We have done the same thing.

What? I do not have servants and soldiers under my authority, how could this be the same?

One day you and I believed in Jesus. We came to the altar to be saved and in that moment we believed completely in Christ alone to save us. We may have knelt at an altar in a church, or stood in a room at our home, but we knew then our unworthiness and need for His salvation. We also knew that each of us could in no way save ourselves. Whatever religion might have been our earlier salve for sin was no longer enough, and each of us came to Jesus to be saved and placed ourselves under His authority in that moment. In an unworthy person, Jesus our Lord sent His Spirit to dwell and made a new home in you and me.

Blessed be the name of our Lord Jesus!

Bucky