Jesus looked at them intently and said,
"Humanly speaking, it is impossible.
But not with God. Everything is possible with God."
Mark 10:27
This week, we’re going to start a word study in the scripture. “Everything” points in two directions simultaneously. First, it points UPWARD to God. He made everything and gives everything (indeed Jesus’ gave everything including his very life).
Second, “everything” points DOWNWARD to – and OUTWARD through – us. Following Christ’s pattern, we are called to give everything too (and for the Lord’s sake).
Today’s verse points upward. But it starts with people pointing downward and seeking a human solution. People were asking Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26). They wanted a human solution. One man even justified himself saying, “20 I have kept [all of God’s commandments] since I was a boy.”
But Jesus was unimpressed. Our Savior essentially said, “Great, you’re the most perfect person in history but” – and here’s the quote – “‘21 you [still] lack one thing.’” That man – and most of us humans – want to be able to rely on ourselves. We want to be in control of our own destiny. But “27 humanly speaking,” said Jesus, “it is impossible.” Humanly speaking all of our efforts are futile.
Ouch!
I constantly try to rely on my efforts. I constantly try to rely on my own wisdom. I reflexively do what seems right to me. Looking downward, I eagerly chase after what culture prescribes as “best practices.” And the result? I’m constantly tired, continually frustrated, regularly thwarted, and routinely empty.
When I build on me, myself, and my own understanding, it’s a house of cards. But when I build on God and “lean not on [my] own understanding,” I discover the only firm foundation because “with God … everything is possible”!!!
In Christ’s Love,
A guy who wants everything!!!
(wait … that’s not greedy;
that’s just wanting more of God
because He is Everything!)
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