Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

It's all brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com which is the home of your free personal Bible Study Guide, the ABC1, 23 Bible Study Method.

Please join me in my mission of getting the audible word of God into two millionaires a million people by 2028.

You can help by saving and subscribing to the podcast and tagging your friends.

Here's today's reading and we're reading from the Gospel of Luke 7:1 10 from the Message A Place of Holy Mystery when he finished speaking to the people, he entered Capernaum.

A Roman captain there had a servant who was on his deathbed.

He prized him highly and didn't want to lose him.

When he heard Jesus was back, he sent leaders from the Jewish community asking him to come and heal his servant.

And they came to Jesus and urged him to do it, saying, he deserves this.

He loves our people.

He even built our meeting place.

Jesus went with them and when he was still quite far from the house, the captain sent friends to tell him, master, you don't have to go to all this trouble.

I'm not that good a person, you know, I'd be embarrassed for you to come to my house.

Even embarrassed to come to you in person.

Just give the order and my servant will get well.

I'm a man under orders.

I also give orders.

I tell one soldier, go.

And he goes and another company comes and my slave do this and he does it.

Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd.

I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel.

The very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works.

When the messengers got back home, they found the servant up and well.

Really amazing story about healing and obedience and faith and so love this story in so many ways.

And so let's get into some the story about how Jesus is kind of just blown away by the faith of this Roman soldier and he turns to the crowd and he gives him the simple message.

I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel.

The very people are supposed to know God and how he works.

Hmm.

Let's take the core of that message and let's go a little deeper with some points to ponder.

Three of them, as a matter of fact.

So the first one is this.

The outsider sometimes sees what the insiders miss.

This Roman captain, this Roman soldier had no religious credentials.

He wasn't Jewish.

He hadn't studied the Torah, the first five books of the Bible as we know it.

It didn't belong to a faith community.

And yet Jesus says his trust surpasses anything he's found among the people who are supposed to know God.

And that's a stunning statement really.

Jesus isn't gently complimenting this man.

He's directly challenging the assumption that the people closest to the religious system are automatically the ones closest to God.

And from a progressive faith point of view, this is one of the most important patterns of the Gospels.

Over and over and over again, Jesus finds the deepest faith in the people that the religious establishment overlooks or excludes.

A Samaritan woman, a Roman soldier.

The point isn't that insiders are bad.

The point is that institutional proximity to God doesn't guarantee actual trust in God.

And sometimes the people outside the walls see more clearly than the people inside them precisely because they're not weighed down by all the religious machinery.

So let me ask you if you ever felt like you don't belong in church, like you don't know enough, like your doubts disqualify you.

This story here is for you because it's the opposite of that debt.

You're honest, open handed.

Trust might be exactly what Jesus is looking for.

Point to ponder, Number two.

The captain's humility isn't self depreciation, it's clarity.

Look at what the captain says a little more carefully.

He says, I'm not that good a person.

You know I'd be embarrassed for you to come to my house.

Now on the surface that might sound like low self esteem, but I don't really think that's what's happening here.

The man isn't wallowing, he's just clear eyed.

He knows who he is.

A Roman officer is an occupying army and he knows the power dynamics at play here.

And instead of pretending to be something he's not, he simply says, I know my position and I also know yours and your word is enough.

Now, my wife and I have been married over 34 years and one of the things I've learned slowly, sometimes, and sometimes painfully, is that the strongest moments in our relationship aren't when I'm trying to impress her.

It's When I'm being honest with her.

And if it's, I don't know how to fix something, I don't know something, or I messed up pretending like I do, it doesn't work.

I need.

If I need help, I need to ask for it and not assume that I have what I need to know.

When you have this kind of clarity, it isn't weakness.

It's the thing that makes for a real connection.

And in this story with the Roman soldier and Jesus, it's the captain's clarity about himself that opens the door to what Jesus can do.

He doesn't perform worthiness.

He just shows up honestly.

And Jesus calls it the most extraordinary faith he's encountered.

Point to ponder number three.

Notice who the captain is fighting for.

His servant.

Hmm.

Now, this is a detail I really don't want you to overlook.

Don't blow past it.

A Roman military captain is going to extraordinary lengths, sending delegations of people, humbling himself before a Jewish rabbi for his servant.

The text says he's prized him highly and didn't want to lose him.

In a world where servants and slaves were often disposable people, this captain saw a human being worth fighting for.

From a progressive faith point of view, this is where the story gets beautifully subversive.

The outsider with no religious training instinctively does the thing that's at the heart of God's vision for the world.

He values someone the system says doesn't matter.

He uses his power not to protect himself, but to advocate for someone beneath him in the social order of the day.

On my cancer podcast, I see this kind of advocacy all the time.

A spouse fighting through all the insurance bureaucracy.

A friend driving hours to take their.

Their friend to chemotherapy.

A co worker organizing meals for someone who is homebound with an illness, these aren't grand, churchy, or theological gestures.

They're acts of stubborn kindness and love on behalf of somebody who is vulnerable.

And this story says that kind of love catches God's attention.

So let's talk about an action step.

Here's what I want to invite you to do today.

Think about someone in your life who you might be considered an outsider to your faith, to your community, to your circle.

Maybe someone you've unconsciously assumed doesn't get it spiritually.

Instead of teaching them something, I want you to learn from them.

Ask them a question about their life, about their background, about what they believe and what gives them hope, how they see the world.

And here's the thing.

Listen without correcting.

Because if Jesus found the most remarkable faith in a Roman soldier who didn't know a single line of scripture, then maybe the person who challenges your assumptions and my assumptions has something to teach us about trust.

We're going to come back and pray here in just a minute, but I want you to know that there is a resource that we have for you called the Daily Bible.

The Daily Bible, the ABC 123 Daily Bible resource and you can get it at our website, voiceofgodaily.com let's pray.

Gracious God, we thank you now for being with us in our weak moments and help us gain clarity from the Roman soldier and help us to apply that to our lives and help us to know that we can be trusted.

We put ourselves trust totally in your stead.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our living Lord, we pray.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

The Daily Bible Refresh is completely listener supported.

Your gift goes a long way to getting the audible word of God from a progressive perspective into 2 million years, a million people by 2028.

I would be so grateful if you would go to voiceofgodddaily.com and share your gift of any amount.

Thanks much.

My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

Please subscribe and tag your friends until tomorrow.

Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.