“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” – Mark 10:27 {ESV}
On most days we will arise with one of two filters upon our minds. The first filter tells you all of the things you will not be able to do and all the many reasons why they cannot be done. You will see your lack of resources, your dwindling resolve, your minimal support from others, the futility of the demand versus the unlikely value of the results. When you arise with this filter you may experience fear, frustration, depression or resentment. Sometimes when you awake with this filter you find yourself tempted to crawl back into bed and pretend that today was misplaced on the calendar and you will try today again tomorrow. In the above verse, Jesus rightly said something which can be applied to days like these “With man it is impossible…”
For many of you reading there also needs to be an acknowledgement that you have experienced something altogether different on other days. You awake to note that you have things to do, tasks that need your attention, people to serve, obligations to fulfill and decisions requiring finalization. The pressures are real and perhaps there is, as in the scenario above, the same fatigue and inner lack of motivation. Yet when this second filter is placed upon your mind you are discerning that things will be fine. You move, you trust, you pray, you let God’s truth fuel your choice to get up and move forward. On these properly-filtered days you hear the simple message of “Yes, you can” in your mind and, if there remains any sense of burden at all, it is light and you find yourself disentangled. Perhaps without exerting any real discernible effort you realize that you are resting in Christ and that His power is moving you. Both of the scenarios involve challenges and demands but only in the second are you experiencing what Jesus also says in Mark 10:27 above: “For all things are possible with God.”
I’m wearing the second filter today. It has been made available to me and it is, in fact, the mindset that is mine for the taking. It exceeds positive thinking in that it is true thinking. Nothing we face today looms more largely than the understanding, presence and active power of the God who has redeemed us. Scripture tells us that it is more likely that a nursing mother will forget the baby on her breast than it would be for God to forget His elect. So often we wrongly sense that He stands at one point, stretches out His mighty arm to an invisible point on the horizon and bellows out in authority, “Go forth!” In all actuality God never leaves us – not even when sending us onward to some challenging moments or promised treasure. He doesn’t merely point out the way. He is the way. We walk in Him and when we are aware of this we find that our hearts are calmed, our wills are resolute, our confidence high and our joy spilling over the banks of our personal limitations and flooding the fields of our lives. This is the way for us to think. He is worthy of our trust and will empower our minds to filter each thought through what Christ has accomplished and what has been promised to us through Him. This is earthly living at its finest.
You are right to know your limits and recognize your weaknesses. Yet never let your mind settle on the error that this is where your story ends. Beyond the bounds of you is the active King who has written your entire story. He knows the end from the beginning and your victory is not merely likely…it is settled. You are His today and this is His delight. He has invested His name in you, Christian, therefore you cannot fail in the end. It is His glory to shepherd you on through.
Nothing will be impossible with God.