Dare to Believe Inc.

All I Need is a Miracle

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Let's talk miracles.  How should we look at those, how does that affect how we view God and how does that help us understand the Bible?  Maybe you question God's goodness or power because he did not take away your pain.  It's a reasonable thought, so let's dig into this.  OK, so imagine being around to see Jesus do a miracle before He told people He was God.  Keep in mind that you have no idea who He is at this time.  After your head stops spinning and your jaw returns to its normal position, what is your first thought?  Well, if you are like me it would be let’s see another miracle then to get in line.  Fix me and here’s my family member and my friend too and off I’d go.  Then I would tell everyone I knew so hopefully they would go get their miracle. 

 

OK so were miracles just for when Jesus walked the Earth?  Well of course not, I’ve heard about when God parted the sea, the plagues, and so on.  I also know that unexplainable things still happen.  So what exactly is a miracle?  One definition is: a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.  So it’s something people can’t do and something unexplainable by earthly standards.  OK, so a child being born would still fit that description even though it happens every day.  We may know a fair amount about the process although you are not going to reproduce (so to speak) that process without the tools God has put in place.  And even if you have a body, where does one get a soul from?  Then there are plants growing from seeds and dirt, the Earth revolving around the sun and all the stuff that we realize is so intricate and fine-tuned to the point that a tiny change and it would cease to exist, all stuff we may have information about, but nothing we can reproduce out of thin air.

 

I think often times though when we say miracle we are talking a fix.  Heal me or get me out of this jam I’m in, right?  It’s says that you can pray for these.  Should I expect them?  Well, they do happen.  God intervenes in our lives all the time.  I have no doubt about that.  Often times I didn’t even ask for it.  I know that He has infinite power.  He has shown that over and over.  One thing that I have come to realize is that He clearly knows better than I do.  Let’s be real though.  What about the miracles I clearly need and ask for.  If I don’t get it does that mean I lack faith or that God is not listening, all-powerful or even real?  To answer this question let's begin by looking at the why of miracles.

 

So back to the first century where we are watching Jesus.  In focusing on the miracles as if we are dealing with a genie we may not stop to ask Jesus who He is and why He is doing this.  This is what I want to look at.  Mark 2 has a great example.

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When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”  He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

- Mark 2:5-12

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Why did Jesus talk about sins while staring at a man who is clearly paralyzed?  Were His priorities mixed up? 

 

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

- John 4:48

 

The miracle in this case was used to show that He had authority.  In other words, listen up.  If He can do miracles like no one else then He is who He says He is and His words are true.  The miracles are signs pointing you the right direction just like road signs do.  So what He’s saying is that the words or message are more important than the miracle just as the destination is more important than the road sign.  So look past the miracle.  The miracle, although amazing, was temporary.  I can guarantee you that that man did not go on to live a life free of suffering and that he did eventually die of something.  Even the holiest people's bodies failed them, and even if you are healed of cancer something else will get you later. So wait, living on earth forever is not the goal? 

 

In addition to seeing the miracles, I can’t help but think of what it would have been like to be a disciple after Jesus died.  He said and did amazing things, but then He was gone.  In their minds He was supposed to have taken charge on earth and freed them from The Romans and now He was gone, UNTIL He wasn’t.  He comes back and all of a sudden it made sense.  The eternal talk that they didn’t understand or downplayed because they wanted earthly relief became the entire point, and all of a sudden their priorities changed.  They told everyone about their experience with no regard for their earthly lives. Paul who met Christ later said:

 

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

- Phillipians 1:21 NLT

 

So am I saying not to pray for a miracle?  Of course not.  God's love for us is described using the word that means the deepest form of love and wants to be intricately involved in our lives and in fact the entire Christian faith hinges on the biggest miracle of all that God used to solve our greatest dilemma.  The best miracle is that we have the opportunity to dwell with our Creator for eternity, to have our relationships restored with the Lord through Christ sacrifice for us.  If our life on Earth as we know it is a spec compared to eternity, what is more important, healing now in eternity? Although no one wants to suffer, the death process itself is a miracle if you have accepted Christ, because it is death in one sense and life in another.  To go from a body that deteriorates on one side of the door to one that does not on the other.  Now that you are thinking about that in the physical sense, you must realize that it is the same in the spiritual sense except you can go through that now by accepting Christ.  That's all that talk about dying to yourself and the world and living for Christ, which you don't need to wait for.  

 

So will people still suffer here on earth?  Yes, even if we all have all the faith in the world, sometimes even more when we do.  In the end though, all the suffering is wiped away (Rev. 21:4) if we take Christ's gift that washes away our sin.  Knowing that we don’t have to squeeze all of our happiness and satisfaction out of this life should be refreshing and, like the disciples, should enable you to give up this life in many ways in anticipation of the next.  This even helps you wrap your head around how God would bypass a miracle to work through the pain and suffering for a greater eternal outcome.  Spiritual growth is more important in the long run than physical healing.