This past Sunday, my husband Markus, who is on staff at Woodcreek Church in Richardson, TX, went to the building, but because it was going to be a busy day, the boys and I stayed home and had our own church service.

We worshipped online with Woodcreek and then watched a “Kids Beach Club” episode that Solomon had filmed. “Kids Beach Club” is an after school program (currently virtual) for public schools, designed to connect kids to Jesus, and Solomon is one of the actors.

The KBC character word for the week was, “Obedience”. And the key verse was Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

In the context of this verse, Gabriel has just told teenage Mary she would give birth to the Son of God. His name would be Jesus and though men’s kingdoms come and go, Jesus’ kingdom would never end. A logical woman, Mary asks how she can have a baby, even though she’s never slept with a man. Gabriel tells her, “God’s got this. His power will overshadow you and will make it happen. In fact, God finally answered the endless prayers of your elderly relatives, Zechariah and Elizabeth, to have a baby. And they are 6 months pregnant. FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.”

And I sat transfixed. I don’t know about you, but I love it when God takes a section of Scripture that I’ve read 100 times and breathes new life into it. I’ve read Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God”, a ton but don’t know that I’ve ever made it the key takeaway to the story of the birth of Jesus, as “Kids Beach Club” did on Sunday morning.

I paused the computer and shared my “ah-ha” moment with the boys. I told them that they too will read stories in the Bible and then one day, God will, BOOM, drop a new meaning of the text right in their laps. And it’s like, “Wow, God did this for me! He loves me so much and wants me to see all the levels of meaning in the text. And He chose to show me something new. Isn’t God awesome?!”

Excited, I continued my “sermon”, which the boys patiently listened to.

“Guys, when God asks you to trust Him and follow through with what He’s asking you to do, you have to know that He will take care of you, just like He did for Mary and Joseph. Because we can rest in the promise that nothing is impossible for Him! And the thing is, that sometimes when you obey God, your obedience doesn’t result in a blessing specifically FOR YOU. Mary and Joseph’s obedience was so Jesus could do what God called Him to do. Elizabeth and Zechariah’s (eventual) obedience was so that God could work through John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. So our obedience isn’t so that we get the reward, but so that God gets the glory.” [tweetthis display_mode=”box”]So our obedience isn’t so that we get the reward, but so that God gets the glory.[/tweetthis] “I think this is the truest, rawest expression of our love and devotion to God: when we are willing to do whatever God asks of us, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if people think we are crazy. God doesn’t promise obedience will be easy. “Easy” was the last thing God gave to Mary and Joseph. I mean, their obedience led to the death of their son. But it also led to the fame of God. So we obey God because the joy is in knowing we’ve done so, and the hope He will be glorified, not in the reward we expect to receive.”

The boys and I finished the episode and then prayed together. And Deuce ended his prayer like this, “God help me to obey You. Help me to hear You when you are talking to me. And help me to obey, not so I get anything awesome out of it, but so You can be made famous.”

May that be the prayer of our hearts too.

Amen.

Is God asking you to do something? Are you struggling to obey? What if we were to really trust God, like Mary and Joseph did, and believe that nothing is impossible with Him? How might that give us the courage to follow though on what He’s asking us to do?