Magic?

I was fascinated as I watched the magician ply his trade.

He had our small group enthralled at his ability to do the seemingly impossible. At one point, he set fire to some paper he had placed on a small stand. He placed a cover over the paper to extinguish the flames, then lifted the cover to reveal four white mice! Have you ever seen a magician produce a coin from behind someone’s ear, pull a rabbit out of a hat, or cut a woman in half? The answer, of course, is no.

The magician may have made it look as though he or she did so, but that is all. Magicians are illusionists, highly skilled in the art of misdirection.

While your attention is “here,” the illusionist does something “there,” leading you to the erroneous conclusion that something miraculous occurred.

Illusionists seem to do what is apparently impossible.

But in spite of their tremendous skill and showmanship, they do not. God, however, does what is truly impossible.

The prophet Jeremiah says it is as impossible for evil people to do good as for an Ethiopian to change his skin or a leopard its spots.

The same prophet said, “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

A few chapters later we find this thought. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

In this verse, Jeremiah uses a word that means “incurable.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable.” Who can restore an impossibly lost sinner to union with the God of heaven? Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). In Christ is found the remedy for the sin-sick heart.

In Christ, the one who is accustomed to doing evil can find a new direction. The soul surrendered to the indwelling of Jesus Christ finds new hope and new life. Jesus can do the impossible in your life.