one step: Matthew 8.2

Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.

Have you ever wondered why we should pray for one another? Why can’t people just pray for themselves? I’m not trying to be calloused, but doesn’t it make sense that if a person become sick that they could just ask God for healing themselves?

In the story of the healing of the centurion’s servant, we see several amazing things to glean that should inform our lives. The one that we will focus on today is this simple but profound observation: it wasn’t the faith of the boy that released healing, but the faith of the centurion.*

Sometimes we need someone to have faith for us. The sickness of the boy was such that the words used in the Greek imply that he could not even move.* In the case of the little boy, he didn’t have the physical strength to even cry out to Jesus, much less go to Him.

There are times in our lives that sickness robs us of the strength to cry out. There are times in our lives that our emotional brokenness, our disappointment, and our heaviness make it too difficult to lift words to the ears of a loving Father and a compassionate Savior. Sometimes we do not have what it takes to ask for the power of the Spirit. This is one reason we need one another.

My wife went through a long health journey that spanned years. Like so many of us, she got to a place where she lacked the strength to pray a prayer of faith. She needed those around her to pray for her. By the grace and power of God, and the goodness of God to surround us with Jesus-people, my wife received healing.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to pray for someone you know. Perhaps God wants you to find Jesus-people who will cry out on your behalf when needed. Maybe the healing that someone needs is just one prayer away from today, and you are the one to pray it.

Need prayer? We are happy to pray for you (ask for prayer here).

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 191-196, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 8:5-12) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 8.1

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Sin, like an incurable sickness, ravages our lives. Its highly contagious nature allows it to spread at any moment through normal life activities. The sickness of sin, once contracted, spreads generationally like a gene-altering invasion. The tentacles of its reach seek to infect every area of life. Those infected by it no longer can relate to society normally. Relationship with God is severed.

In the natural and in many ways, sin looks a lot like leprosy. Leprosy as referred to in Scripture included a myriad of skin infections seen as incurable. The social implications included an inability to be touched by others and the requirement of announcing the condition to others through the word, “unclean.” Contracting leprosy meant the end of the opportunity for having children. It meant an inability to worship in the temple. A slow and terrible death was certain, and the shame of the disease made life unbearable.*

Sin does these things to us, but much worse. The separation introduced between us and others and us and God is incurable and cannot be ignored. We cannot enter God’s presence, and nothing we can do can change this. Unlike leprosy, death does not even provide an escape from the reaches of sin.

The leper in the days of Jesus’s earthly ministry had to announce ”unclean” whenever near people without the disease. I wonder how many times we announce, “sinner” when in God’s presence? Too often, when made aware of or reminded of our own sin, we either attempt to hide our sin from God, or we hide from Him all together. This hiding leaves us diseased and distant.

Scripture tells us that healing comes through confession to others (James 5:16). How many times do we sit with someone we trust and tell them, “I’m a sinner.” Like we do with God, we hide our sins and our selves from each other, allowing the sin to fester and spread.

Jesus was willing and able to heal the leper. He is willing and able to touch us and heal us as well. The contagion of sin and leprosy do not touch Jesus. Jesus touches people and healing spreads from Him to us. It has the potential to spread between us, from friend to friend.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to look into the eyes of our compassionate Savior and say, “I’m a sinner! Heal me please O Lord!” Perhaps God wants you, as His hands and feet to this world, to touch someone else. Maybe God wants healing to spread through you in the way that sickness and sin once did. Perhaps the compassion of Jesus that brought Him to touch the outcast is available for you today (it is). Maybe God wants you to find a trusted brother or sister in the Lord and declare, “I’m a sinner!” Perhaps God wants you to create a place of compassion for someone else to do the same.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 187–190, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 8:1-4) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 7.7

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

The teachers in the days of Jesus’s life here on earth did as many scholars do today: they cited prior research to build a case. The difference between conversation around the Torah and other areas of research was the stagnation of its growth. It was a rarity for any teacher of the Torah to bring up new ideas.*

Then Jesus stepped on the scene.

Jesus didn’t cite prior rabbis; Jesus cited Himself. “I say unto you” was a common phrase for Jesus before His teaching. Jesus spoke with an authority from above, not from peers or predecessors. He spoke with this authority because He was under the authority of His Father in Heaven.

I’ve heard it said that to have authority, one must be under authority. To speak with authority as a rabbi and be heard, you had to reference rabbi’s of old and their thoughts on the Torah.* This placed you under their authority, thus giving you authority. Jesus understood this: He had all authority from His Father.

There are many voices in this world. These voices tell us who we are, what we should and should not do, how to feel, and how to treat others. Many times these voices do not even cite the teachers of old. They simply appeal to our emotions and leverage our waning sensibilities.

Who have you given authority to in your life? This will determine the authority in which you live.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to recognize the authority of Jesus. Perhaps today you need to start valuing and paying attention to His voice above the rest. Maybe it’s time to learn from Him in areas that you never considered that He might be the authority in.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 183–185, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 7:28-29) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 7.6

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The words of Jesus warn us of the consequences of hearing His words and doing nothing with them. To hear His words and think them good but not build our lives upon them is equivalent to building our lives on a sand that awaits sure destruction. Only by taking His words and structuring our lives upon them will be withstand the storms of this life that introduce the opportunity for hurt, fear, anger, shame, and uncertainty. Only by taking His words and structuring our lives upon them will we pass the test of ultimate judgement one day.

This invitation to decide what to do with His words requires reflection, but there is more to this passage than our cultural context provides.

The people of Jesus’s day had heard other rabbis teach that if you build your life on the Torah (the Word of God), then your life will stand the storms of life and judgement. Jesus effectively states in this passage, “my words are God’s words!”

This radical statement removes any opportunity to view Jesus as just another teacher or just another prophet.* Jesus speaks these words and challenges the hearers of His words to accept Him as the ultimate judge, the Word made flesh. To build our lives upon the words of Jesus is to build our lives on the words of the One who created it all, including us.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to take HIs words seriously enough to build your life upon them. Maybe in some area of life, you like His words. Perhaps you think that His words are good, or you wish that you could receive them. Maybe today God is asking you to take the leap of faith to believe His words enough to structure your life upon them.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 181-183, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 7:24-27) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 7.5

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

This life is hard. Something in our inner being cries “fowl!” when life hurts, loss happens, and injustice strikes. This voice cries out for something better. This voice is the longing for an eternity of perfection called Heaven.

The tragedy of humanity is that we think that we can work our way to Heaven. Rather than follow the model of Jesus and pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven, we attempt to work hard to make Heaven ourselves. We muster our wills and our efforts to create rules and to control ourselves and others to etch out some square space of Heaven. We fail.

The words of Jesus above do not imply that we can do God’s will and find ourselves in Heaven one day. Jesus is not instructing that doing things earns grace or acceptance. In fact, Jesus is very clear that we can do many things in the name of Jesus and still have no idea who He is and fail to show Him who we are in vulnerable, honest relationship.

In the context of this verse, we see that Jesus instructs that if our lives are truly rooted in Him, then the fruit of our lives looks like obedience.* A life truly rooted in Him, drawing from Jesus as the source of our lives, is a relationship that connects us to Life itself. A life connected to God in this way knows who God is and opens the heart to allow Him to see every dark, hurt, broken, and needy place. A life connected to God through Jesus opens the doors to grace that allows us to enter Heaven.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to stop attempting to earn. Perhaps today God wants you to pause to examine the motives in your heart to do the things you do. Maybe God wants you to open your heart to Him to see inside. Maybe the things you do for Him have been robbing you of the chance to know Him more. Perhaps God would ask you to slow down and pause with Him.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 178–181, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 7:21-23) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).