When my church Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine (John 2:1-11) in 2009, we came to an important question: what is a miracle?
Defining a miracle
A miracle is a wonder, a movement of God, which no person can do and no person can explain or understand, which reveal, affirm and point to Jesus so that those who witness it would believe in the source of the miracle.
Biblically, every miracle performed by Jesus or by the Apostles throughout the New Testament affirms Jesus’ teaching and reveals Jesus’ identity as God. These miracles came with the impetus to worship Him accordingly. To believe in Him as God.
Have you ever experienced a miracle?
I have; a few times, actually. Some have been wonderful, others painful; but all have confirmed the truth that Jesus is God.
He wasn’t a liar. He wasn’t a lunatic. He is the Lord (to paraphrase C.S. Lewis). And while I’ve written to some degree about a the miraculous experiences we’ve had over the past year, there’s one thing that immediately comes to mind when I think of miracles; perhaps the greatest miracle that any human can experience: salvation.
Salvation, the greatest miracle of all
In the comments from yesterday’s post, the question came up: how would you define being “born again?” As discussed there, the words in greek translated “born again” can also mean “born from above.” Literally, this means that I was reborn as an entirely new creation when God, in His mercy, saved me. Reborn as one like Jesus. Born to love God, hate sin, want to worship the True God and serve others…
All the things that I couldn’t do before. The things I didn’t want to do. Before, I was dead, spiritually. I was an enemy of God, fully deserving of His wrath and an eternity in Hell.
Yet, rather than give me what I deserved, He gave me grace. He gave me faith in Christ and gave me new desires, a new heart and a renewed (and renewing) mind.
Paul wrote in 2 Cor 5:17, “[I]f anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The old me is dead. I am no longer God’s enemy. Instead, I am His friend—because He has chosen to call me friend. And that’s a wonderful thing.
To be born again, made a new creation in Christ, to know that Jesus bore my just punishment on the cross out of love for me and rose from death so that I might have relationship with Him…
That’s a miracle. Perhaps the greatest any of us could experience.
Miracles change lives
And it’s one that has affected everything in my life. Instead of mocking Christians and lambasting the church, I (try to) love and defend them. My career has drastically changed. My interests are completely different. I doubt I’m giving away a secret, but unless you really, really love Jesus, reading the Bible and countless books on theology, history and ministry is really, really lame. It’s not a cool hobby. My views on marriage and relationships are virtually the opposite of what they were just 5 years ago. How I think, how I talk (although I struggle with a potty-mouth at times), how I relate to my extended family, where I work… It’s all different.
And a lot of them still think it’s pretty weird.
But by God’s grace, I’ll take the opportunities that come up and keep talking about what’s going on. And perhaps God will move in their hearts as well.
So here’s my question(s) for the day:
- What’s an experience you’ve had that can only be described as a miracle?
- How has that experience transformed your faith, and how has it affected your relationships with others?
This post was originally published in October 2009. It has been updated for links and structure. Photo by Alice Donovan Rouse on Unsplash
