Interested in the Impossible

Interested in the Impossible

(“Jesus answered, ‘What is humanly impossible is possible for God.’” Luke 18:27)

I want to dive in, encourage every single reader, and tell you, “Everything is possible with God. You are going to be ok. You will get that job. Your husband won’t lose his. Your wife will have that child you are waiting for. You will pass geometry.” (Well, ok, maybe not so much the last one.)

But, if I were to start that way, I would do the very thing that people have done for years: totally misuse Scripture, and this one in particular. Jesus is not saying, “God can do anything, so, just like a magician asking for requests, check it out! Ask Him something really, really hard.” And our mind jumps to new cars, a clean house without personal effort, kids who don’t talk back, parents who understand every nuance of teenage language and angst. You know, things that are truly impossible. But, as has been repeated time and time in many a Christian’s life, we discover God not giving in to our demands that He behave and produce colorful and technological wonders that will get our attention and keep us faithful forever.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, He will do those things when He has to. Scripture is a record of many of the impossible things God has done! A complete record would require a dozen mailings. How about a highlight: creating our world in its amazing intricacy, drying up the Red Sea, saving Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace, and Daniel himself from becoming a hungry lion’s entrée. Jesus, in only a three year ministry healed the deaf, restored the blind, cause lepers’ skin to become like baby’s, raised the dead…3 times, no less, and turned water to wine. Oh yes, and He turned the hearts around of many from following money, tradition, religion, and prejudice into men and women who followed His new kingdom based on love and self-sacrifice.

Of course, all that got Him crucified, while His disciples were biting their nails and wondering, “Should we ask for that impossible thing now?” It would seem the impossible had not occurred. After curing so many, casting out every demon He encountered, apparently Jesus had no power when it came to encountering political kings and governors who decided to have some fun with the Son of God. Instead of being cast out of the lion’s den like Daniel, Jesus was driven all the way to an ugly and painful death on a cross. Looking back, we understand the greatest miracle of all was accomplished on that dark Friday afternoon. Your forgiveness and mine, something we could never do for ourselves, was offered as Jesus spoke through the spiking pain, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Oh yes. There is a bit more to the story, isn’t there. Jesus, who healed the sick, told the rich to put away their wealth and follow Him, who protected an adulteress and castigated the religious elite, that same Jesus, three days later stepped out of the tomb alive. Fully alive. Recognized, touched, and experienced by those who knew Him best as alive!

Here is where this verse takes me for my own life, then. I am pretty sure that when Jesus said that God can do all the stuff that is humanly possible, He was not suggesting I start filling out an order for jet skis. Nothing wrong with them, but I just don’t think He had them on His mind.

Jesus had just told His disciples that it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. (Luke 18:24). Having thought that riches were a sign that God really like a person, the disciples asked, “Oh my, then who CAN be saved?” And Jesus replies…”What is humanly impossible is possible for God.”

More than at any other time in my life, I want to be sure I am completely sold out for the kingdom of God. I am really tired of “believing God” for the extra money to buy a better car. I want to be at the forefront of a movement of people who know God will provide what they need. The only miracles, the only impossibilities they are concerned about are seeing new people becoming part of that kingdom. We can change the world, we truly can. We won’t do it by believing really hard for new cars, though. But maybe we will, if we decide to get together (maybe Sunday mornings) and learn together how to believe God for the truly “impossible” things: the transformation of a human heart. How about it? Are you interested in the impossible?