Miracles Seen and Unseen
Acts 2:43 (NLT)
“A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.” Acts 2:43 (NLT)
Pastor’s Blog
The 4 Gospels and Acts are full of miracles. The big miracles are God’s coming to earth (incarnation), Jesus’ resurrection, and the creation of the church as God’s healing agent on earth by means of God’s Spirit (Pentecost).
There are lots of other miracles too, which we should expect. Next week’s reading has a beautifully described one.
Many yearn to see concrete, irrefutable demonstrations of God’s miracle working power. There are many things to say about this. Here are two of them.
1. Signs and wonders happened in the Bible and they still happen today. They are wonders of God an are inexplicable apart from God.
However, we might call these “God’s Power plays” and God restrains from using them as a norm because God doesn’t seek followers based on “coerciveness”. God invites, He rarely overwhelms. He wants freely chosen trust, faith, and belief, not a “bowled over” followership.
2. Signs and wonders happen every day, every moment of every day. I have had the thought that my “demand” to see the power of God is something like the demand of a needy child to parents who provide everything he needs day in and day out. What that parent wants the child to grow into is a child who recognizes and trust the parents’ love, provision, and loyalty.
(to post your thoughts, anonymously if you wish, simply click on “comments” below)
Jesus told Thomas he believed because he Thomas had seen a miracle (Christ's resurrection), but "Blesed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." As if it is better to believe without the benefit of miracles . . . so when you don't experience such, be thankful!
ReplyDeleteWithout minimizing the effect of "miracles', for the ones I have felt in my life, may not have been a miracle to someone else, but to me was nothing but, I still find the daily presence and love of God in our lives the most amazing miracle of all. Truly.
ReplyDeleteThe treasure of having the Lord as friend and Savior, someone to speak to in sentences or in groans, someone we can take for granted the love He so willingly gives-I'd be hard pressed to think any miracle greater than this.
Acts was a special time with special provisions- today is, too.
1 Kings 19: 10-13
ReplyDeleteWe often look for the big things to be the miracles, yet the Lord was in the whisper.