Borrowed Truths

One Miracle

Picture of Borrowed Truths

One Miracle

If you happened to be in one of the city parks one day, enjoying the warm summer breeze, children at the playground, couples and families with blankets spread upon the ground enjoying their picnic lunch, bicyclist on the path and then you happen to notice a man in a wheelchair. At the prompting of the Holy Spirit you approach him, and after a few minutes of conversation you find that this man is also a servant of Christ. You place your hand upon him, tell him to get up and walk, and he does, what do you think would happen? Well, if he is anything like those that were healed by our Lord, there would be much rejoicing, lots of thankful tears, and probably some quick sprints around the park, the lame is healed and can now walk. But what do you think would happen to you?

More than likely those who did not flee in terror would all flock to you, cell phones all held high, recording every moment. Perhaps there is someone else in the crowd who desires to be healed from an infirmity, some others that want you to accompany them to their home or the local hospital so that this miracle can also happen to those that they love. This was not planned, it has never happened in your life before, the gifts of healing ended a very long time ago, of course the Lord still performs these types of miracles through His children, but they are indeed few and far apart from our eyes. Some follow you home, pleading in tears for you to help them, thirty minutes later the television camera crews surround your house, yours is the story that must be told until the next diversion scatters them and you become a distant memory. Cries of fraud are heard; you are shunned for you will not bestow this great gift upon all who ask.

They followed our Lord until He stopped healing them, when He would feed them no more they left His side, when they were told that He was the only way, they departed, and when they came with torches to the garden, even all forsook Him. If we can do something for them, they will seek us out, in fact they will never leave us alone, but as soon as we try to offer them the Truth, they will depart. Such is the life of the faithful witness, feed them at the soup kitchen and they will listen, right up to the point of their last morsel, then they’re out the door, give them a cigarette when they ask for one and the floor is yours, run out, and they have no time for you. Miracles are what draw the crowd, specifically miracles that alter their lives, for the moment they are a captive audience, but “Were there not ten healed?” (Luke 17:17)

Many churches have learned a lesson, though unscriptural, from these moments in Scripture, and it is what became the “entertainment ideology” of the so-called progressive church. If the sermon cannot keep them from yawning and drooping eyes, the big screen will, simply put up a video of someone being healed, a life changed, a poignant moment of blessings and they will all applaud, and perhaps show up again next weekend. In Mark chapter one after our Lord healed the leper (Mark 1:42) the Word says that He could not enter the towns for the press of people but stayed out in desert places. Do you suppose that was because they thought Him the Messiah, or did they just want something from Him? “I’ll bring my niece tomorrow; she has a toothache” “What time should we be here for lunch on Thursday?” I pity the one whom our Lord might call to heal someone in the eyes of the public.

We face this same consequence, as it were, when we attempt to witness to the lost, we hold out to them the Words of eternal life, an eternal joy beyond all comprehension, but unless we also have something for them in the immediate, we will be shunned. This is why so many who come to Christ come to Him in the lowest points of their lives, there is nowhere else to go. I have lived near towns where the average yearly income is ten times more than many will make in their entire lifetime, and saw not one come to Christ, they did not need Him. The world was fulfilling all their desires, or at least what the money could purchase was. I have also resided for short periods of time where a can of soup was a gourmet meal, and that one can was shared among many. In either case, though more rare in the poorer section at times, when the needs of the flesh are met, the needs of the soul are put on hold, the immediate is almost always more important than the eternal in the eyes of men. For a bowl of pottage Esau saw value in the immediate, (Gen. 25:34) the rich man wanted to fare sumptuously, (Luke 16:19) and thirty pieces of silver suited Judas Iscariot just fine. (Matt. 26:15) Heal the one in the wheelchair and you will be hounded, tell them of the love of God through Christ and you will be as a shadow to them, or a bothersome fly. Give me something now, don’t promise me something later.

Tell me something my friends, would you rather suffer in your body, your mind, or your soul? The flesh for the believer will be glorified, the lost will burn eternally, the mind of the children of God will be transformed, the lost will know eternal hopelessness, the souls of those loved of Christ will reside with Him forever in unspeakable joy, the lost will know eternal punishment and suffering. Now, the immediate, this life is so short, but the end of it seems so far away to many, much less the thoughts of forever. Our hope rests firmly in Christ, theirs is only in hope. Those who have in this world do not know they need, it is our responsibility to tell them so, not to entertain them with worldly happiness, we are to help them to see the Truth, not the lie that life is long and enjoyment is the key.

Those who need to be carried we gladly carry, but those who can walk are expected to do so, the life of a man is not determined by his accomplishments, but by his service to his fellow man for the Glory of God, it is His name we are to lift up. You are offering them in Christ the most valuable prize that has ever been known, don’t water it down with another gift, it is demeaning to His name and would bring shame upon you. If you are saved, you are the miracle, that should be enough for them to see.

Share this post

Search

Archives

Secrets

I will ask this question of you through an example. A pastor I know was speaking once to

Read More »

Categories:

There are several items I would ask you to consider before you click on the Donate button.

1.    Please pray carefully about donating; “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2nd Cor. 9:7)

2.    Your first responsibility is to the Lord; “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase”: (Prov. 3:9)

3.    You must consider your family after your first responsibility; “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (1st Tim. 5:8)

4.    If you determine that you have been blessed by this ministry and decide to donate, please know this, your donations will be accepted with great thanks, and all the glory will go to God.