Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:34-37, (NASB)
Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17 boggles my mind. What does it mean that Jesus shared His glory with me or that the Father loves me like He loves Jesus? I don’t understand how the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in me, and I am in Him. I just know this mystery is not impossible for God.
What I do get is I don’t have to pay for a cellular plan to connect with God. I don’t have to be in a hotspot for Him to answer. He is closer than my next breath. He loves me more than my best friend, and He has the power to protect and care for me.
I don’t have to rush out and beat the crowd to get what I need. I’ll never hear the Creator say, “I’m sorry, someone just picked up my last one, ten minutes ago.”
Jesus has limitless power and authority. Nothing can compare with Him. The Pharisees recognized Jesus had some unusual power, but they assumed he couldn’t stand up to a military cohort (500-1000 soldiers). In other words, they put limits on His power. But Jesus only had to say, “I am He,” and the whole bunch fell flat. Ten million soldiers couldn’t have nabbed Jesus if He hadn’t wanted to be arrested.
Jesus was in charge. He picked the time and place of His arrest. He told the soldiers who they could take and who they would leave. Jesus is still in control. He knows everything that will happen. And He has prayed for you and me.
Because I can’t fathom God, I too have limited His abilities in my thinking. I may never say that, but my hope reflects it.
Where have you put limits on Jesus? Maybe in your mind He can:
- Handle stage 2 cancer, but not stage 4.
- Handle cancer one time, but not if it returns.
- Work the sins committed in ignorance together for good, but not sins committed willfully in a rebellious state.
- Provide the grace to overcome a new bad habit, but not one we’ve had for years.
- Grant you joy once, but not now.
Do we look at the visible supply or at the limitless riches in Christ? Believing I am infinitely loved by a limitless God changes how I live and look at circumstances. I am not the source of my supply. My hope is not in a job, diagnosis, relationship, bank account, or even in this life.
The angel didn’t tell a virgin to create a child. He told her what God would do. Where have you tried to accomplish what only God can do? Where have you put limits on what He can accomplish? God became man at Christmas so we would understand, nothing will be impossible with God.
Enjoy this familiar carol.
Blessings,
Deborah W. Wilson
Dear Debbie,
Why do you suppose that God should be summoned to cure cancer at all? Why would a person dead to this world, ask that his present tattered body be fixed temporarily? The question “Where have you put limits on Jesus” is the wrong question to ask because we, as Christians, are already dead to this world, and resurrected spiritually with a new physical body waiting in the future. Because the Christian has already died with Christ, why should we ask at all that he fix us? Shall we not ask of God, “Dear Lord, thank you for forgiving my sins. Now, the life which you gave me on this earth, how shall I dispatch it, as a soldier dispatches a bullet, to push back the tide of sin?” And march soberly and deliberately as a soldier resigned to hurl his body to the battle for the sake of country, fellow soldiers, …
The question “Where have you put limits on Jesus” as addressed above implies this: “Where have I put limits on Jesus to fix my problems?” which is sad, because the person asking assumes Jesus, and perhaps the scripture, revolves around the reader, and by logical extension, not the Lord. Rather, if we are truly mindful of Him, we would be asking, “how shall I use the cancer for His purpose – IE How do I use the cancer to show how I love Him and His image bearers? How shall I use the cancer to my advantage so that by the fortitude He gives me through this cancer, I can reach out to the non-believers to make disciples of all nations?
Keita, Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We summon God, because He’s our Abba Father who loves us. If He chooses not to cure, He carries us through the journey. Jesus tells the disciples to ask what they want at least three times the night before He was crucified. What matters to me matters to Him because He loves me.
No one will live forever in this earthly tent, and some will die young, but God is the God of life. I can’t think of one person who died in Jesus’ presence. Physical life has meaning. The point in this blog is that God’s power is not limited by the severity of a disease, the length we’ve had a bad habit, or the complexity of a relationship. Just as hundreds of soldiers can’t stop what He wants to accomplish, neither can these things.
Our hope comes not in dictating an outcome, but in knowing Jesus is not stymied by problems. The scene of His arrest reveals His majesty. So also He uses our challenges to show His glory and accomplish His eternal best for us.
Blessings,
God can do anything, anything, anything. God can do anything but fail….Debbie thanks for reminding me. I was looking for the comment section and now I know how to get there. Thank you so much!!!!!