This week’s devotions are based on Week 3 of the Series “Fresh Start” – I Have a New Purpose! (WATCH HERE)
Matthew 19:25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
“That’s impossible!”
How many times in life have you uttered this phrase when based on your knowledge and experience you truly felt whatever was proposed was impossible?
As a kid you may have thought riding a bike was impossible.
As a high school student you may have thought geometry was impossible.
As an adult you may have thought getting a good job would be impossible.
For many of us if someone said we’d all be carrying around a powerful computer in our pockets by 2024, we might have said, “That’s impossible.”
In our world, many people have a fixed mindset that is limited by one’s own learning or experience. These individuals are not usually your inventors and innovators. Rather one with an open mind that entertains what is possible are the ones that develop new drugs, new technology, push the limit of human performance and more. Just when you think something is impossible, it becomes possible.
How does that happen?
What I’ve noticed is that when one is open to new learning and new experiences, they begin to see more things as possible. People willing to try something new, approach a challenge from a unique perspective, or embrace failure are often ones that come up with revolutionary break throughs.
This week is about new possibilities. Not ones that just originate in a secular challenge with a secular invention, but rather embracing, with God’s help, the possibilities that he opens up to us through his Word and the truth it contains and the experiences it gives.
In Matthew 19, the ultimate challenge faced the disciples. How could someone be saved? By human learning and perception one would think that one’s performance of good deeds would warrant a heavenly promotion. Jesus challenges this and indicates that this would not be the case.
All of a sudden the limitations of the disciples were exposed. If one could buy or earn their way into heaven, there really is no other way. “Who can be saved?” they asked. Their experience would tell them, “We are all doomed.”
Jesus rather sets forth a truth that opens our eyes and mind to a great reality: “With man this impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ALL things are possible.
Jesus shifts our focus from human learning and experience and assumptions to God and his power and his truth. Humans have limitations. God doesn’t.
That being said, God loves to work through his Spirit to expose us to new learning and new experiences founded in the truth of God’s Word. But our minds need to be open to it.
Only when we carry an open mind to the things of God, will we see the new possibilities he has in store for us!
Apply: Reflect on this passage from Matthew 19. What might your human limitations be telling you is impossible, but God is challenging you to trust is possible through him?
Prayer: Lord, forgive me for operating in life too often by my human limitations. Open my eyes and my heart to your possibilities…always! AMEN.