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Unbelievable

Unbelievable! You had to see it to believe it! That was a million-to-one shot! No way! Are you kidding me?!?

We have lots of ways of commenting on things that we find unbelievable. It could be a fantastic dunk in basketball. It could be a car crash that defies description. It could be hundreds of YouTube videos that make you shake your head and wonder how…or even why.

We even talk like this about seemingly smaller events in our daily lives. When someone calls us after we were just thinking about them. For some it might be finding a one-of-a-kind dress on sale, and it’s in your size. Sometimes it’s making your way down the hallway and narrowly missing all 3 of your children while they come running at you with Nerf guns and Barbies. (Ok, that last one got a little specific.)

It’s unbelievable. And sometimes we wonder if our unbelievable luck goes both ways…good and bad. Because Alanis Morrisette isn’t alone when she asks if it’s ironic when we can’t take good advice or when we’re offered a free ride, after we’ve already paid. Who would have thought, right? It figures.

But sometimes (perhaps too many times) we find the Bible to be unbelievable. I’m not just talking about the miracle stories, although we do that too. I’m talking about the basic Christian teaching that God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sin. I’m talking about the fact that His death means our life and salvation. And yes, I’m talking about the fact that the new life God has for us replaces our old life. It doesn’t coexist with it.

Brennan Manning was correct when he said, “The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Is God’s free gift of salvation unbelievable? Is the idea of Jesus paying the price for our sin too good to be true? Is it impossible to imagine a new life lived all out for God? Maybe for some. But is it for you?

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