Wonder 5 - Balance ...

Friday, August 28, 2009. We are talking about wonders this week. What can be our relation between wonders and normal things? What should be our expectation towards wonders?

In the Christian community a lot of different things are going on. There are Christian churches who do not expect any wonders today. There is even some stream of theology which believes that God has done wonders when Christ lived to show that Christ is his son, but then wonders ceased and today we have to live without wonders. Other churches jump into the gap and put a strong emphasis on the supernatural phenomena. This other extreme believes that God is only there in a service, when something wonderous happens. Without the phenomena of the spirit or without some supernatural healing people think that God has not been active or present.

Both the above attitudes do not fit fully into the biblical texts and they bring with them many problems. Both carry some truth, but in their absoluteness they are just wrong. First, wonders have happened a lot throughout God's history with mankind. There is no reason in the New Testament why God should not do wonders today. When people have faith, there will be wonders - some will be recognized as wonders, others will not be recognized, but still God will be there and will act in his remarkable and fantastic way. Wonders have always acompanied the work of faith, from the days of Abraham until today, and many Christians can tell exciting stories about what happend in their life when they started to follow Jesus.

But God has always worked on all levels. He has always used natural means to reach his goals. The city of Jerusalem has been built with the hands and the work, the sweat and dedication of generations of people. The temple has been built using the gifts and the work of many people. God wants us to be dedicated and active and work for his kingdom. He wants our natural resources to build things as well as all the spiritual gifts he is giving us.

And God loves the calm heart which is following him and his words. He loves the person which is living with a sincere dedication of the heart, the mind and their hands. He has always been a God of a quiet peace. We have to be extremely careful about the way we carry out our services. We tend to generate a big show. We are longing to show-off with the power of our God. But that is not God's way! We should rather calm down and show the world the better way than trying to imitate stupid attitudes with a Christian sign in our services. We can be confident: God is there. God wants to do his wonders in our life - the first of which is a heart which is living in truth, love, mercy and understanding. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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