What If Faith Isn't What You Think It Is?
Full disclosure, this is an AI adaptation of a sermon I preached. I wrote the sermon all by myself! But AI took my sermon notes (which are typically very detailed) and adapted the content into a blog for your enjoyment. I reviewed and made minor adjustments to this post.
I have spent most of my life in church. I've heard countless sermons about faith, read books about faith, and preached about faith myself. But recently, while studying a familiar story in Matthew's Gospel, I began to see faith in a way I hadn't considered before. And it challenged me.
When we talk about faith, we often describe it as believing that God can do something. We have faith that God can heal someone, provide for our needs, restore a relationship, or get us through a difficult season. And certainly, believing that God is capable of doing those things is part of faith. But what if there's something more to it?
What if faith is less about believing God will do what we want and more about trusting him enough to let him do what he knows is best?
An Unlikely Example of Great Faith
In Matthew 8:5–13, Jesus encounters a Roman centurion whose servant is suffering terribly. To appreciate this story, we need to understand just how unlikely this interaction was.
A centurion was an officer in the Roman military, the very military occupying the land of Israel. The relationship between the Jewish people and the Romans was, to put it mildly, complicated. This was not the kind of person you would expect to approach a Jewish teacher for help. And yet, this centurion was desperate. Someone in his household was suffering, and he believed Jesus could help. So he approached Jesus and explained the situation.
Jesus responded by offering to come and heal the servant. (Some translations present Jesus' response as a question, but either way, the centurion's answer is remarkable.)
The centurion replied:
"Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed." (Matthew 8:8, NIV)
He then explained that he understood authority because he himself was a man under authority. When he gave orders, soldiers obeyed. When he told a servant to do something, it was done. And he recognized that Jesus possessed an authority far greater than his own. The centurion didn't need Jesus to come to his house. He didn't need to see Jesus perform some extraordinary ritual. He didn't even need to understand how Jesus would accomplish the healing.
He simply recognized who Jesus was. And then something extraordinary happened.
Matthew tells us that Jesus was amazed.
Think about that for a moment. Of all the things Jesus encountered during his ministry, here was something that amazed him: the faith of a Roman military officer. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith" (Matthew 8:10, NIV).
So what made this man's faith so extraordinary?
Faith Is More Than Belief
For years, I would have read this story and assumed that Jesus was impressed by how strongly the centurion believed in his healing power. But notice what the centurion actually said. He didn't just recognize that Jesus had the ability to heal. He recognized that Jesus had the authority to heal.
And he submitted himself to that authority.
That's an important distinction.
Faith is not simply believing that God has the power to do what we want. Faith is recognizing God's authority and trusting him with what he chooses to do.
The centurion was a powerful man himself. He was accustomed to people following his instructions. Yet when he came before Jesus, he didn't attempt to give orders or make demands. Instead, he acknowledged that Jesus was in charge.
I wonder how often we approach God differently.
We pray for something we desperately want. We believe God has the power to make it happen. We might even convince ourselves that if we just believe strongly enough, God will answer our prayers exactly the way we hope. But what happens when he doesn't?
Does our faith fall apart?
If our understanding of faith is built entirely around believing that God will do what we ask, we're setting ourselves up for disappointment. Because God is not simply an all-powerful provider whose job is to fulfill our requests. He is God. And faith means trusting him as God, even when his decisions are different from ours.
Submission Isn't a Bad Word
We don't tend to like the word submission. It sounds like giving up control, surrendering our independence, or admitting that someone else knows better than we do. Which, when we're talking about our relationship with God, is exactly the point.
But biblical submission to God isn't rooted in fear of an unpredictable authority. It's rooted in love and trust for a God whose character we can depend on. One biblical commentator, William Hendriksen, described the centurion's faith using five qualities: love, consideration, insight, humility, and trust.
I think these qualities give us a helpful way to examine our own faith.
Love. We submit to God because we love him. The more we know him and experience his goodness, the more we desire to follow him. Submission becomes a response to a relationship rather than an obligation to a distant authority.
Consideration. We recognize that God isn't someone we should simply use to get what we want. Imagine having a friendship where the only time your friend contacted you was when they needed something. Sometimes our prayer lives can look surprisingly similar.
Insight. We grow in our understanding of God's character. When we know who God is, we begin to recognize that not everything we desire is necessarily something he desires for us.
Humility. We remember who we are in relation to God. Everything we have, including our ability to approach him in prayer, is a gift of his grace through Jesus Christ.
Trust. We believe that God knows what he is doing, even when we cannot understand it. We acknowledge that our perspective is limited while his is complete.
That final one is particularly challenging for me.
I have no trouble believing God can do extraordinary things. What I struggle with is trusting him when he doesn't do the extraordinary thing I think he should do. I can see my circumstances. I know what I want. I have a pretty good idea of how I'd like things to turn out. But God sees infinitely more than I do. And real faith requires me to acknowledge that his understanding is better than mine.
A Faith That Changes Everything
There's another remarkable part of the centurion's story that we shouldn't overlook.
After praising the man's faith, Jesus explained that people would come from the east and west to take their places in the kingdom of heaven, while some who assumed they belonged would find themselves outside. This was a radical declaration. Jesus was showing that belonging to God's kingdom wasn't ultimately about having the right ancestry, social standing, or religious credentials. Here was a Gentile military officer demonstrating the kind of faith that Jesus had not found even among his own people.
The outsider was being welcomed in. And that's incredibly good news for us.
God's invitation isn't limited to those who appear religious enough or have everything figured out. It's an invitation to trust Jesus, recognize his authority, and follow him.
How Do We Grow This Kind of Faith?
Here's where I think this story becomes especially practical.
If faith were nothing more than a feeling of confidence, we might have to sit around hoping that feeling would eventually grow stronger. But if faith involves recognizing and submitting to God's authority, there are things we can actually do to strengthen it. Start by asking yourself where your faith needs to grow.
If your love for God has grown cold, spend time with him. Read Scripture not just to learn information, but to know the God who loves you.
If your consideration of God is lacking, examine your prayers. Are you spending all your time asking God for things? Try spending time in prayer simply worshiping him, thanking him, and enjoying his presence.
If you need more insight into God's character, examine what you're asking him to do. Compare your desires to Scripture. Are they consistent with the God revealed in its pages?
If you're struggling with humility, remember the cross. Remember that our relationship with God isn't something we've earned. Jesus made a way for us to approach the Father through his sacrifice.
And if you're struggling with trust, remind yourself of something I have to preach to myself regularly:
God sees the entire picture. I see only a tiny fraction of it.
The thing I desperately want may not be what is ultimately best. The outcome I fear may be something God can use for a purpose I can't yet understand. Trusting God doesn't mean pretending those realities aren't difficult. It means believing that his wisdom and goodness are greater than our limited understanding.
A Simple Prayer for Greater Faith
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this entire conversation is that we don't have to manufacture perfect faith on our own. We can actually ask God to help us trust him more. In Mark 9:24, a desperate father cries out to Jesus:
"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (NIV)
I love that prayer.
It's an admission that belief and doubt can exist in the same person. That we can recognize God's goodness while still struggling to trust him completely. And it's a reminder that growing in faith begins by turning toward the very God we're struggling to trust. Maybe that's where you need to begin today.
Not by convincing yourself that God is going to give you exactly what you've been asking for.
Not by trying to work up some overwhelming feeling of confidence.
But by approaching God with humility, recognizing his authority, and saying:
God, I know you are good. I know you are wise. I know you see things I cannot see. Help me trust you enough to submit to your will, even when it's different from my own.
That's a prayer I find myself needing more often than I'd like to admit. And I suspect I'm not alone.
Faith isn't getting God to do what we want. It's learning to trust him with whatever he chooses to do.