Friday, June 22, 2012

"Impossible" How does it mean to the Christian?

The Titanic, launched  in  1912, was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of its time. Because of its advanced scientific designs, the vessel was considered "unsinkable". Historically however, on its maiden voyage, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and suncked, taking down with it some 1500  of its passengers. The ship was said to be impossible to sink vanished in the depths of the ocean in just a few hours.

The word "impossible" can mean a number of things to the christian. As Christians, we describe something to be impossible in the sense that we feel it is beyond our ability to cope with, to accomplish, or to understand. Many of today's technological accomplishments were at one time viewed as impossible, because at the time, those things were beyond man's abilities or even to foresee. Putting a man on the moon, sending a vehicle to Mars and controlling it from Earth, mapping the human genetic code, etc, are examples of today's realities which were perhaps considered as impossible some 50 years ago. as rightly summarized by the Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan to a group to leaders in the field of science, "You, on the cutting edge of technology, have already made yesterday's impossibilities the commonplace realities of today."

in view of the many scientific and other social breakthroughs that have been achieved, Professor John Brobeck observed: " A scientist is no longer able to say honestly something  is impossible. He can only say ist is improbable". He also added that if anything should be considered as impossible, then it should be the ability of scientist to discover the knowledge of any other source of energy in the biological and physiological sciences apart from the Scriptural knowledge that this source of energy is the power of God.

All Things Are Possible For the Christian
long before this observation was made by Professor Brobeck, Jesus of Nazareth, who has been described as the greatest man who ever lived, said in Luke 18:27 that " God's Holy Spirit can enable us to do things that are impossible in our own strength. As humans, we often find ourselves in situations that we feel are impossible to deal with. We may loose a loved one, a bread winner or life can become so stressful and becomes unbearable. Perhaps too, our way of life may have taken us to depths of despair and we feel there is no way out. in such situations, we may become desperate and helpless. However, the Bible tells us that in such situations, our faith in God, devotion to prayers, praying for the Holy Spirit, while doing and obeying God's commandments, can help to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In Mark 11:23, Jesus' reassures us this as he says "Truly I say to you, that whoever tells  this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but has faith that whatever he said will surely come to pass, he will have is so". There is no situation that is impossible to bear or cope with if we allow the power of God's Word and His Spirit to take control of our situations.

God's Word is indeed powerful and that His Holy Spirit can accomplish "impossible" things in our lives. However, that takes Faith. Truthfully and as the Bible says, "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus made an astonishing statement to Martha in John 11:26, that "whoever that believes in me (have faith in me) shall not die". This appears quiet impossible to achieve; but He goes ahead to ask Martha this soul searching question: "Do you believe this?". That question is still valid today for all Christians today.

"Nothing is Impossible to God". Luke 1:37.