“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 1:18
Do professional illusionists disturb you? A woman is on stage one secondand the next she’s gone. Are you comfortable when what your eyes and your brain tell you don’t match?
I don’t usually think of the impossible on a daily basis—well, because it is the impossible. It shouldn’t happen and normally doesn’t happen. Yet, here we can see that our own stories really are impossible. If it weren’t for an impossibility, we would have no sense of God or His love for us. There would be no bridge between us, only distance and chasm. We’d be alone. Alone in our self-efforts, selfishness, shame and wrongs.
Matthew 1:18 does not describe a sleight of hand or illusion. The impossible happened and we share in the miracle of God coming to connect with humanity. The interchange of Heaven and Earth was through a child—a helpless, very vulnerable, baby. It came in the form that was most costly to the Father and most priceless for humanity. Being born of a virgin, Jesus was the only possible substitute for our offenses. He was the only one who could satisfy the sentence of fails and shame upon our life. It was a miracle. Fully God. Fully Human. As Spurgeon said, “He is born of a woman, that he might be human; but not by man, that he might not be sinful.”
FOR THOUGHT
Thankfulness is the overwhelming characteristic of those who experience a miracle or impossibility. Knowing that your very life is a miracle, how does your heart respond?
How does life rob you of the right perspective of value and worth that God places upon you?