When Impossible Become Possible

Jayanta Chhinchani

When a person is born and starts to grow, he sets some aspirations to achieve in life. And then begins to pursue but obviously encounters tough times. For such a time as this, he often loses the ability to face the future optimistically. He begins to think about his tomorrow negatively. He forgets that the tough times will pass sooner or later. He focuses on the problem of today rather than on the opportunities of tomorrow. In so doing, he not only loses the potential of today, he also throws the beauty of tomorrow that is the real tragedy of tough times. He probably needs to know that everybody has problems. No life is problem-free. Solution to any problem is available. A man cannot reach the solution to every problem by his own efforts and intelligence. This is what Jesus said in John 15: 5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” Further Paul says in Phil 4:113: “I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.” Things that seem impossible become possible in Christ Jesus.

John chapter 15 is a part of Jesus’ last discourse.  This chapter is capitalized with the issue of relationship as a basic ingredient of all the success in life. The first 11 verses deal with relationship of the disciples to Christ, verses 12-1 7 about relationship of the disciples to one another, and verses 18-27 about relationship of the disciples to the world.  Therefore the core aspect of this chapter is relationship. For the very existence groups depend on the union of each individual with Christ. To illustrate it, Jesus used the analogy or parable of the vine. The reason of utilizing this illustration of viticulture was one of the common features of Palestinian life and would have been familiar to the disciples. It is possible this discourse could have been spoken on the walk from the upper room in Jerusalem down into the Kidron valley and across to the mount of Olives, they could have seen the great golden vine, the national emblem of Israel, on the front of the temple. This symbolism has its precedent in the Old Testament. Psalms 80 refers Israel as a vine. This chapter teaches us some incredible principles about when impossible become possible.

 1. When we have right relationship with God (John 15: 1-11)
            The first part of this chapter emphasizes on remaining in Him. The original meaning of the Greek verb meno means “remain in one place, at given time, with someone.”  In Old Testament amad is the word used in place of the meno, which means, “stand” or “remain” (Exo 9:28, Lev 13:23).  The verb meno found 118 times in the New Testament, 40 times in the Johns’ Gospel and 24 times in the Johannine epistles. The verb plays a vital role in John 15 to indicate the importance of  “REMAIN IN JESUS.” If we do not remain in Jesus we can do nothing, like a branch bears no fruits without the vine. The branch which bears fruits will be cleaned. The cleaning process is a picture of the divine dealing with human life. If we wish to be fruitful and successful in our studies, lives, career, and ministries, all we need to do is ABIDE IN HIM, because we can do everything with Him. As long as we live in Him and he lives in us, there won’t be any fears and doubts even if the things not going well with us. Rather he will be our driving force towards possibility.  Why do we fail in our doing even if we put 100 percent efforts?  The answer is simple: we are probably doing the things without Jesus, we therefore never succeed. Continuous success in life depends on constant union with Jesus, the source of power and ability. One of the best ways to maintain our intimate relationship with God is PRAYER. Prayer is talking to God. The more we spend time in talking to our friends, the more we become intimate. Simultaneously, the more we give our time, energy, and ability for God, he grants more grace and strength by which we could turn impossible into possible.

 2. When we have right relationship with our fellow being (John 15:12-17)
            Right relationship is a basic foundation for peace and prosperity of an individual and country as a whole. There is nothing important in our existence than having right relationship with God and fellow being. We are placed on earth to live in harmony and peace. Jesus very precisely taught the indispensability of relationship to one another saying, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” This relationship is rooted in love. Love one another is one of the paramount caption in the Johannine writings.  John presents love as the greatest gift to mankind. Paul places love at the top of faith and hope (1 Cor 13:13). Every one has a tendency to love some thing or some one better than us. Rarely do we love those who are lower than us. But Jesus loved us regardless of our color, education, richness, and abilities. Wherever God has placed us, he has placed us to be a helpmate to one another. When we fail to do so, we become helpless to each other’s needs and feelings. Thereby we tend to feel it’s not possible. This is not a sensible notion. When we love others the same way we love ourselves, we will be a great asset for them in their journey to success. Today there are fights between religious groups and countries due to the lack of right relationship. This cancerous ill- relationship deprives peace and prosperity. Where there is right relationship, there is forgiveness, love, trust and receptivity. These become a backbone for correct thinking. The things that was not possible by a person yesterday will be possible today by joining others. Where there is unity there is no place for impossibility. Hence, create and sustain right relationship to one another and trample over the impossibility.

3. When we have right attitude toward predicament (John 15:18-26)
The world in which we live is full of trials, hardship, pain, despair, and fear of failure.  The world is not good enough for us. We often try to obtain some of the objectives without going through pain. This is what I noticed in my teaching in the M.Div class. There were a few students who thought that learning Greek and doing exegesis is hard. They therefore developed negative attitude toward the academic pressure as a result given up their studies and went back home. It was not that they cannot do, but it was their attitude problem. Things may become harder and tougher but it is not the end of our journey but it’s just the beginning toward   higher-level of learning and achieving. The negative attitude would be quite embarrassing to all concerned and would prevent us from solving the problem that we may face. Positive attitude works. The step to success is correct mental discipline and perseverance to achieve the goal. Let our attitude be positive always so that all that is impossible will become possible.