Mary Chose to Believe God for the Impossible
Macy's Christmas slogan is "Believe." I'm not sure exactly what that is all about. But I do know the first person who ever believed at Christmas was Mary.
When the angel told her she would have a son her response was, "How can this happen? I am not married!"
The angel's response was, "Nothing is impossible for God!"
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Mary simply replied, "Let it happen as you have said."
Mary chose to believe that nothing is impossible with God. Her belief was rewarded when she conceived and Jesus was born. The most incredible miracle had occurred — God became man.
Christmas opens up the door to possibility. What seems impossible can become possible. What is it in your life that is impossible?
You must choose to believe. Impossible becomes possible when you believe. For some miracles are hard to believe in. They put all their trust in science as if it can possibly explain everything.
A New Yorker named Kevin Coughlin had been blind for twenty years. In August the thick white fog over his eyes suddenly lifted and now he can see. Coughlin had a hereditary condition called Leber Optic Neuropathy that impairs and destroys optic nerve cells.
Dr. Susan Fromer of Lenox Hill Hospital said, "I'm not aware of another case like this in medical history actually, a true Optic Neuropathy that resolved itself after twenty years."
"Resolved itself" is how doctors describe a miracle, they also use phrases like "spontaneous remission" when the impossible becomes possible.
Coughlin simply said, "Now, I'm totally different. I'm a person who meditates and prays — daily."
When Jesus healed the blind man they asked him what happened he said, "I was blind and now I see."
Miracles happen in all kinds of ways in all kinds of situations. Earlier this month there was a huge ten-alarm fire in Cambridge, MA just outside of Boston. The fire destroyed fifteen structures displacing almost eighty people. But no one was killed or even seriously injured.
The Assistant Fire Chief Gerard Mahoney said, "It's nothing short of a miracle."
Mahoney said it was the largest fire in his thirty-three years with the department. How do you explain a massive fire and not one person is killed or even hurt? It is simply a miracle.
Whenever journalists write about these stories they usually put the word miraculous in quotes. As if to actually call it a miracle would be too presumptuous. I have no such reluctance. I know God does the impossible I have seen it so many times it is undeniable.
We sing a chorus in our church with these words:
I'm not gonna live by what I see, I'm not gonna live by what I feel, Deep down I know You're here with me, I know that You can do anything, Through You I can do anything, I can do all things, Nothing is impossible!
I love singing that chorus because it sums up beautifully the mindset we should have about the impossible things in our lives. When we choose to believe we open up the door to the miraculous. We position ourselves to see God make the impossible possible.
Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we miss the miracle because we are looking for the ordinary and not the extraordinary. Sometimes we miss it because we are not looking at all. Sometimes we refuse to acknowledge that what has happened is unexplainable except as miraculous.
This does not mean your belief will lead immediately to a miracle. There will be problems or challenges that develop along the way. They usually come in two varieties — circumstances and critics. There is also likely a waiting period that teaches you to trust. But the miracle will come.
So what do you need to believe for? Is it a health challenge, financial issue, marital problem or something else? You can be like Mary and believe God for the impossible. Whatever it is that seems impossible there is hope. The miracle of Jesus means anything is possible.
