WATCHWORD:
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:21-24
In him, we have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God‘s grace Ephesians 1:7
Meditation:
Healing vs Miracles
Ask any doctor and they will probably tell you that our bodies are designed to heal. It’s more than ‘take two aspirin and call me in the morning,’ and maybe you will feel better. Is that a miracle, or is the aspirin what causes the healing? Your child falls while climbing an apparatus and breaks their arm and the doctor puts the arm in a cast, but the body of your child works to heal the arm. Miracle or nature? We take medication or a shot in the arm and it helps us not to get the flu. The body is doing this. Where’s the miracle? In the shot? In the science that produced the shot?
There are other maladies that befall us human beings. I had lung cancer. My doctor removed a portion of my lung, captured the source of the cancer, and there’s been no sign of cancer for 12 years. Miracles? Perhaps. Maybe natural healing combined with intelligence, science, and common sense. I believe God was in there somewhere.
We have scriptural acquaintance with the ministry of Jesus in biblical times and the miracles that have no other explanation than that it was something supernatural, something beyond the natural. Water does not turn into wine by any natural means. First century leprosy carried a death penalty, there was no known cure. By human thought, walking on the water of a lake would either mean it’s been below zero for a while, or there’s a remarkable amount of debris, or it’s a miracle.
Any number of us can make a case for miracles in our lives if we know where and how to look. They discovered my lung cancer because of a set of inconsequential happenings that eventually caused them to order a chest x-ray. What fascinates me about that whole scenario were those “inconsequential happenings“ which I believe was God at work, nudging, directing.
There’s a part of our intellect and part of our common sense that can make some kind of a clear cut separation between a miracle and a healing, and yet I would submit that everything in the universe bears the “fingerprints” of our God. His nudges, his words, his voice is constantly active in our lives. In order to fully understand, don’t be deaf, or blinded by medical science, or by the little cop-out called coincidence, but recognize that something spiritual is also at play.
Don’t get me wrong, science is important. It’s a gift of God. I would venture that most of us during a portion of our lives consumed water that came to us through lead pipes before we realized, through science, that it was hurting us. When I was 18 in Korea and got shot at, that was grounds to light up a Lucky Strike and I started smoking and it stuck with me for 10 years, and caused of my cancer! Medical science saved my life. Medical science, a gift from God.
In our lives, God has given us the tools. In our lives God has given us the peace, intellect, and purpose that should drive our lives. May the power of the Holy Spirit brings us closer and closer to our Heavenly Father. A miracle? Yes, just one of many of God’s graces. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father open our hearts and minds to awareness of the movement of Your spirit within our lives. Just the fact that you were here in our human mind is a miracle, but we know it is it is the love that you have for us as children of God. Stay with us Lord, strengthen our shaky faith at times and know that it’s with great gratitude that we are proud to say we are children of the Most High. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
