A Prayer About the Impossible
Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 Lord Jesus, you offered these sobering and hope-filled words to disciples pondering how a camel could go through the eye of a needle or a rich man enter the kingdom of God. You speak the same words to me in light of many situations for which I both need to accept my limitations and lay hold of your sufficiency.
Jesus, I begin this day choosing to remember and rehearse your commitment to make all things new, NOT make all new things. We are living in a story of restoration, not replacement. You are actively at work in the broken places and among broken people (including me). Through your resurrection, we have been given great assurance and hope of redemption, reclamation and renewal. This is incredibly good news, the best news ever.
The hard news is that I have to admit and accept that many things are impossible for me to “pull off” through my own “good” intentions, resourcefulness and efforts (manipulations). This requires a humility and faith the gospel alone can provide, so I’m asking, Jesus. My hunch is, this will reduce my stress, make me more enjoyable to be around, and will enable me to love people, and not treat them as a “project”-which wears me out and, no doubt, is highly offensive to them.
I cannot change me, so why spend so much time and energy mentally preoccupied and emotionally engaged with trying to figure out and fix others? Jesus, what seems most impossible to me today is that I can become a really caring, a really relaxed, a really patient, a really present, a really accepting, a really hope-filled man. Please, show me the nose of a camel beginning to emerge through a needle’s eye. Hasten the Day of more “newness” in my heart, I ask for your glory, Jesus. Amen
