Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Because “the prayers of all saints” are ever “before the throne” of God (Revelation 8:3-4), we can confidently pray for good things (Matthew 7:7-11). We can even pray for the seemingly impossible. Yes, that is what the Bible teaches. In Matthew 19:16-26, a wealthy young man came to Jesus but chose not to follow Him. Jesus pointed out that riches have a particularly powerful influence, often blinding people to spiritual truth (verses 23-24). The disciples were “amazed,” for the prevailing attitude of the day was that wealth was a sign of God’s favor and that wealthy people were more spiritual than others. Can rich people be eternally saved? Yes, for Jesus closed this account with an abiding principle: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (verse 26b). Salvation for rich or poor is humanly impossible; not one of us can do anything to save ourselves. Each Christian, then, is a walking, talking miracle. When we pray for folks to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, we are praying for the impossible – “but with God all things are possible.” The next person who will be saved will be another impossible miracle. Let us thus be encouraged to continue in supplication for the souls of the unsaved.