Nothing is Impossible

While we were on the Alaska cruise, we missed a Disciples class. I enjoyed doing my reading on the balcony of our cabin. Sitting on the back of the ship, watching the shore go by, I read Hebrews. Great experience.

Read these verses:

Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm, the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Hebrews 3:6

We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain,... Hebrews 6:16

Those verses stopped me. We are taught that pride is a sin, and yet in the verse above, pride is something we hold onto in order to be part of God's house. And hope...we often use the word hope to mean wish, and yet in this verse, hope is the anchor of our soul. I daresay, it is not a wish.


The difference is that these have been transformed by God. It is not our sinful pride, but we are able to boast because of God. It is not our wishing that is the anchor, but God's promise.


And if you keep reading Hebrews, you find this verse:

...looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Imagine that -- Christ, crucified, for the sake of the joy that was set before him. Transformation.


I said once in Sunday school that those who are ordained in the UM church say they are moving onto perfection. Someone told me that wasn't possible; I must be mistaken. I wasn't wrong -- it is one of the historical questions. It seems to me if God can transform pride into something to which we must hold firm, hope into steadfast assurance and bring joy from death, then moving me or you to wholeness is not nearly as impossible as it sounds.

With God, all things are possible.