"I have still less trouble in believing in the miracle of the virgin birth because for me to become a son of God is a human impossibility; this event, this miracle must be repeated in my life if it is to be at all! To be a Christian is not to subscribe to some code of ethics. It is certainly not to subscribe to the law of Moses. It is not to have one's name on a church roll. Is it not to take Jesus as my example and to seek to answer every day the question, What would Jesus do in these circumstances? That is not being a Christian.
Being a Christian is to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is to be born again. It is a miracle as great as the virgin birth of our Lord and Savior. If Mary in utter skepticism says, "How can this be?" – that is, the thing is biologically impossible; it can never be – it is equally true that for me, a sinner, to be made a child of God, for me in all my human depravity to have the nature of God Himself imparted to me so that at last, when His work is finished, I shall be holy as He is holy, lovable as He is lovable, beautiful as God is beautiful, is a miracle! Only the omnipotence, the infinite power of God can bring this about. "How shall this thing be?" Gabriel's answer to Mary was, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee"; therefore the child to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God."
The House of Christmas, p. 42
H. Harold Kent
So it was published in 1964. A few thoughts.
30 years later, give or take, the WWJD craze took off among Christian youth groups. Is there merit in reminding ourselves what Jesus would do in any given situation? Sure. It's just not the point. If you could do what Jesus could do with any reliability whatsoever you wouldn't have needed Jesus to begin with. We love to focus on what we can do for God; we fail, almost always, to realize that for us to do anything for God is a miracle in and of itself. It requires a complete transformation of our soul, a complete renewal of our old selves. We are made as new. Sinners made holy. It's a miracle, and we didn't do anything to deserve it, earn it, or make it happen.
I read a recent philosophical statement regarding the existence of God and the chief proof of the article was the experience of those who believe. Part of me felt like this was shaky proof; to be sure, our experiences or what we perceive to be true can lead us astray. On the other hand, one's own experience is undeniable; it is irrefutable; this happened, and I know it happened. So it is with the Christian faith. The transformation is so great and so undeniable that we can only say, "this is true. I believe."
Perhaps it's this low view of our own salvation–in essence, that we don't think it required that much to make it happen–that makes us minimize the true nature of the Gospel. I think it's the reason that the Gospel, the good news, doesn't take root as the life-giving message that it truly is. We're still hanging on to the old mentality that tells us that surely there is something we did to deserve whatever has transpired in our lives. Surely, belief was just the next step on the journey. Surely, there must be an explanation, and it must have something to do with me.
There is an explanation, of course, and it's the same one given to Mary. The difference is that Mary knew the thing was impossible, and therefore must have nothing to do with her. "The Holy Spirit will come upon you", was the angels' response. This thing is not of your doing. It's of God's.
That's how you know it's legit.