Sunday Fuel 12July2026
“But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
—Matthew 19:26
We have plenty of adventures in the Boss office and shop, and one recent adventure immediately brought this verse to mind.
Our printer’s encoder strip—at least, we think that is what it is called—came unhooked. And by “unhooked,” we mean completely removed.
Unfortunately, there are not many helpful videos available for our specific printer. To make a very long story short, the instructions told us to lift the strip above a “U-shaped opening” and drop it into place.
We tried.
And tried.
And tried again.
Then we found one person—just one—who suggested threading the strip through a tiny opening instead.
Did we mention that we could not actually see what we were doing? The entire repair had to be completed by touch, with only about two seconds of video showing a brief glimpse of the back of the part.
Still, we decided to give it a try.
We threaded it through the opening and—what do you know?
It worked!
That small victory brought us to Matthew 19, where a rich young man approaches Jesus and asks, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).
Jesus first tells him to keep the commandments. The young man is confident because he believes he has done everything Jesus listed. But then Jesus tells him there is one more thing:
“Sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
—Matthew 19:21
That was more than the young man was willing to do. Because he had great wealth, he turned and walked away from Jesus.
The problem was not simply that he owned many possessions. The problem was that he trusted those possessions more than he trusted Jesus. He wanted eternal life, but he was unwilling to surrender control and follow the One who could give it to him.
It took two of us working together to repair our printer. One person had to share the instructions, and the other had to listen, trust, and respond.
In a much greater and more meaningful way, Jesus has already given us the truth we need:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
—John 14:6
We cannot earn eternal life through our own goodness, accomplishments, or possessions. What is impossible for us has been made possible through Jesus. He completed the work of salvation, and He freely offers eternal life to everyone who places their faith in Him.
Knowing how to fix the printer would not have helped if we had ignored the instructions and continued doing things our own way.
In the same way, Jesus is calling. His message is clear, His gift is free, and He is waiting for you to trust Him.
Sometimes the answer appears when we finally stop struggling, listen carefully, and follow the right instructions.
