Impossible things

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And at Kardesh-Barnea the Lord sent you out with this command: “Go up and take over the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him. — Deuteronomy 9:1-29

I’m not sure anyone else heard what our friend had just said to open the meeting, but I did and it rocked me.

There are moments when a word from another divinely disturbs us to the core.

Circumstances, the Holy Spirit and our heart’s disposition all play a part in their impact which explains why others may not even hear what we hear.

I heard it — “The only time we have to be a part of the impossible is now.”

As Moses is reciting back to the people the account of the last 40 years, he came to the part of the story that altered the entire trajectory of the nation.

God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. He told them the land of Canaan was theirs in keeping with his promise to Abraham.

That moment was the time identified by God for them to enter into the fulfillment of his promise.

They responded with a fearful and feeble, “Impossible.”

God continues to invite his people today to step out beyond their resources.

Jesus never confined the adventure to our possible.

“Come join me for a stroll on the water.”

“Lazarus come forth!”

“Follow me and we’ll take the Kingdom to the edges of the earth.”

“For you this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Until the full magnitude of who Jesus is, overwhelms our thinking, our feeling, our doing, our speaking, our wanting and our believing, we will remain mired in the possible.

One thing

There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. — Luke 10:38-42

As the golf club nearly broke my wrist, the sod from my well-intended swing actually went further than my golf ball.

If there was one thing out of the many things wrong with my golf game that I could obtain victory over, I’d start with keeping my head down.

I’m not sure why I feel the need to look up every time. It’s really not going to be that impressive of a shot regardless.

Jesus and the disciples were making their way to Jerusalem when they took a little stop at some friends’ house.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus were very dear to Jesus.

While Martha prepared dinner, Jesus taught.

Mary and presumably Lazarus and the disciples sat and listened.

Martha’s attention drifted to Mary. Frustrated, she forgot who she was talking to and blurted out, “Tell her to help me Jesus!”

Lovingly, he reminded her of the one thing that sets the table for all of life — keep your eyes on me.

Serving, giving, listening, speaking, caring, etc. are all wonderful expressions of love.

However, if our attention gets focused on the expression of love and not the object of love, we can easily become discouraged, fatigued and critical of others.

If anything or anyone else fills our minds and hearts more than Jesus, we have drifted from the one thing that Jesus said should concern us.

Tom Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.

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