The Bible presents three classic examples of the futile struggle between humans and God: Abraham (Genesis 22.1–19), Jacob (Genesis 32.24–31), and Moses (Exodus 4.24–26). Among these, only one emerged victorious in the face of temptation—the one who steadfastly followed God’s command.
God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on a mountain (Genesis 22.1–19). Abraham immediately complied with God’s will, and his unwavering faith earned him God’s blessing, making him the father of faith for all humanity, as Paul the Apostle explains in his letter to the Romans (4.16–17).
Abraham’s faith was a profound surrender to God’s care. It illuminated his understanding that only God is the source of life, and that he was nothing without God. Unlike others who pretended to be someone they weren’t, Abraham built his entire existence on the immense power of God.
The reality of the Cross of our Lord Jesus is incomprehensible to the human intellect. It is a concept that is utterly incomprehensible to the old measure of human understanding. Humans are reluctant to rely on God’s power and glory because they lack God’s strength and divine perspective. They stumble and fall repeatedly into the abyss of pretentiousness instead of repenting and seeking conversion. Instead of embracing the Lord’s words of eternal life, they find them intolerable and harsh, questioning how anyone could accept them (John 6.60-61).
We didn’t inherit the spirit of this world. Instead, we received the Spirit of God, as Paul the Apostle proclaims in 1 Corinthians 2.12. Not only did we receive the Spirit of God, but we also possess the mind of Christ (2.16), which is essentially God’s “brain” through which He thinks, deliberates, knows, loves, believes, and hopes. Without the Spirit of God, we lack the consciousness that we are nothing.
Moreover, the Spirit of God possesses us and transforms us into someone else, as evident in 1 Samuel 10.6. This transformed individual becomes a part of God and His truthful presence in the world.
Mary, the humble maiden of Nazareth, serves as a shining example of this reality. With the arrival of the Holy Spirit, she became someone extraordinary, for whom the Father performed remarkable deeds, and all generations will remember her as blessed. He defeated the arrogant and, with His power, overthrew princes from their thrones and elevated the lowly. He provided sustenance to the starving and sent the rich away empty.
Whenever God encountered this transformed individual, He recalled His compassionate mercy and abundant love and refrained from destroying the creature He had brought to life (Luke 1:46–55).
Just as Mary underwent this transformation, we too should surrender to our own act of faith in God’s care. Let us recognize our Heavenly Father as the sole source of our life and establish our entire existence on His almighty mercy. By doing so, He will empower us to receive His Spirit, enabling us to conquer, transform, and become the new individuals He desires us to be—those who think, believe, hope, and above all, love like God.
