6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. Luke 7:6 (NLT)
THE word "adjustment" is a timely word for these modern times when many of us are so uptight. It is deep and pregnant with many meanings but light, undemanding and very inviting. It lowers our shields ...allowing the timely light of grace to penetrate our legalism. Life is about UNENDING ADJUSTMENTS! We have no choice but learn to be flexible, doing it with delight, a willing heart, and being a good student of life's lessons in the area of giving space.
Jesus went to heal the servant of the Roman centurion. The request for Jesus to heal the centurion's servant was political in the eyes of the religious leaders of Israel. Wasn’t this powerful gentile military officer’s sympathy to our faith and help in building our synagogue forms of lobbying for favor? Jesus, being a man of principle, should have given these guys a timely rebuke while it was hot, making them see their hypocrisy, right? No, Jesus went with them. Whoa!
Jesus modeled truth and grace and oiled those tight screws of narrow-mindedness with wisdom and tact. Jesus showed us the wisdom of adjustment...not compromising what was right but being sensitive to right timing. The lesson He wanted to teach was delivered straight to the hearts of the people. The Roman centurion too, displayed the wisdom of adjustment. More than mouthing humility, he modeled it! His faith was also oiled with grace; Jesus himself said “his faith is great” and...the knockout punch..."I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!" There’s the arrow with a direct hit!
Learning the art of adjustment is not an academic pursuit, it’s all about transformed attitudes! The humility displayed by the Centurion, having no background in religion; a pagan schooled and trained to project power; displaying unentitled faith...was a transformation resultant of a spiritual encounter with Christ. Such adjustment is beyond human understanding...a powerful evidence of transformation. When the powerful live powerless lifestyles, this is the gospel at work! When the powerless strive to be powerful, don’t expect any adjustments but expect more demands and dogmatism! When we live a life oiled by the grace of flexibility and lots of adjustments, we are living UPRIGHT LIVES; without adjustments, we are living an UPTIGHT LIFE!
Thanks for reading. Let us ask God to fill our containers with the oil of grace so we can loosen many uptight screws in life. Upright is not uptight. Live light today.