What goes through your mind when you read or hear stories of miracles in the Bible?
While it’s likely we all have differing thoughts, it’s HIGHLY likely NONE of us stare at the pages of our Bible in astonishment as Lazarus wakes up, or in amazement when Peter walks on water or speechless when Jesus feeds the 5000. These are reruns to many of us, unfortunately. We have heard these stories before (some of us since birth!) and they can become commonplace, or “lose their luster”. They become almost non-events in an absolutely true history of the world we live in.
Let’s face it, with so much at our fingertips we are becoming more and more desensitized and un-impressed as a society. We often over-estimate the importance of pretty much everything that isn’t important while simultaneously under-valuing everything that IS important. The announcement of new life, a baby being born is “just science” but the new Tesla truck is “breathtaking” (ok, so no one’s really saying breathtaking but you get the point). It’s as if we’ve been wired to believe or respond to the exact opposite of truth.
So – what’s it take to impress you? What stops you in your tracks and removes the breath from your lungs so much so that you feel more alive, more grateful? Do miracles 2000 years ago (or current) amaze you? Or (if you were honest) do you subconsciously discount them or perhaps leave them there on the pages of the Bible as something to sort through later? Are they one-dimensional stories that may have happened but simply as an object lesson? Or are they stories retold for generations and generations – amazing proof that Jesus lived and LIVES! We are wired for the next thing (heck we’re literally CONSUMERS of “next things”!) so we must be mindful of that and choose to marvel at these mysteries, these miracles!
In the last parts of Acts 9, we see Peter GO, FIND, and DO what He saw being done while being in apprenticeship under Jesus as his rabbi. Now, before you set Peter so high up on a pedestal so the bar for us as Jesus’ followers is more attainable – hop to Acts 10:26 where Peter himself says, “I too am just a man” when someone tries to worship him. Some religions create pedestals and call guys like Peter saints which can create an environment of worship to them (instead of the Holy Spirit working through them). The book of Acts actually has a few different names depending on how you wish to think – “The Acts of the Apostles” or “The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles”. If you pick up on how the apostles handled being glorified and where the power came from, you’d call it the latter.
This little section is a call to us as Jesus followers with all of our quirks and schedules and doubts and fears, just like Peter, to GO, FIND and DO! As we grow in our relationship with Jesus – I sure hope we grow in knowing Him more than knowing about Him, following Him way more than simply talking about Him, and worship Him through our stepping out in faith to do the things Jesus did – otherwise, what even are we doing and why did He bother teaching apprentices to pass those things on generation to generation?
If you missed last week, we got a front-row seat to miracles happening in our church family right now and talked about Peter in Acts 9.
Challenged to ignite everyone we meet with the story of Jesus after all…
The world needs a better story, let’s go tell it!