Signs and wonders: Opiate of miracle mongers or demonstration of God's compassion?


I've seen a few blog entries of late (by people I respect) that condemn people who seek after signs and wonders. They have very strong support for their position. But, as Paul Harvey would say, "Here's the rest of the story."

The arguments against seeking the supernatural in a Christian context are based, I think, on nutjobs in charismatic and pentecostal circles. The "Toronto Blessing" didn't help any. While God uses the foolish things of this world, there is no command in the Bible that we deliberately be stupid. Instead, Jesus said "Be wise as serpents."

(By the way, just how smart are snakes anyway? Does anyone know? That's a random thought. Back to my point.)

People came to Jesus and asked for a sign that he was Messiah. I always wondered why he didn't answer by saying, "For crying out loud, I just raised this poor sap from the dead. What more could you ask for?" Instead, Jesus condemned them, saying that "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign." Then he gives them one anyway - the resurrection, in the simile of Jonah and the fish. But that condemnation of seeking signs misses a lot of what Jesus did.

Jesus didn't seem to mind the miraculous. He healed lots of people, cast out demons, raised at least three people from the dead, yadda yadda yadda. He even took flak over it: some said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons." Another guy said, "Hey, you can't heal here, dude, this is a CHURCH sevice." (Ok, it was a synagogue on the sabbath. Stay with me). In Mt 10, after choosing his disciples, he gave them five commands: "Go and preach, saying 'the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Five commands, one of proclamation, four of compassionate care through God's grace.

In I Cor 12, Paul says, "Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts." Yup, that's a command. Of course, he also followed that with, "But I show you a better way." I think that the argument is that "The Corinthians were an immature church, so they abused the gifts. Love is superior to the miraculous."

That's exactly my point. If the gifts are the focus, then the complaints and condemnation are deserved. In contrast, when Jesus performed miracles, the Bible often says that he was "filled with compassion." The point of these gifts is that God cares about people - not flashy healing services, not jets, and certainly not Benny Hinn's version of "The Wave."

When I was trained in healing prayers, and later as I trained people myself, the standard instruction was this:

God chooses whether or not he will heal. That's his business. Pray and believe, but recognize that that's out of your control. You, however, can show compassion yourself: let them know you care.

In other words, like I wrote over the last few days, give an accurate reflection of God's nature so that others may know and believe.

Posted: Fri - January 4, 2008 at 09:34 AM           | |

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