Imagine the Church so full of faith and power that its people are emptying hospitals. They station themselves at the receiving area in a funeral home and raise the incoming dead. They are providing food in famine. They are doing greater things than Jesus ever did. Attendance in the church swells.
But, how many of the new attendees are actually followers of Jesus? Jesus cares about our suffering. Miracles show His power and His compassion over our pain. But a miracle is not and never can be the foundation on which our faith to follow Jesus builds.
Consider: There was a time when a group of people saw 10 plagues assault their slave holders. The plagues led to their release as slaves. Then, they saw a sea part to become a path for escape. Then the sea closed in and drowned their enemies. They had food show up everyday.
Surely such things must have led them to trust the LORD. They did not! Strangely after all this, within 4 months they bowed before a golden calf. The miracles provided for their freedom, safety, and comfort. It did not create faith and trust.
Consider: John 6 records Jesus feeding 5000 men and their families. With full bellies, they sought to make Him king—right then and there. Jesus withdrew and left—but the crowd followed and came to Jesus the next day. Seeing them, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” (John 6:26)
The crowd had followed Jesus so that He could serve them breakfast.
Jesus refused with very provocative language, “So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.”(John 6:53) As a result, the people who the night before had been fed from 5 loaves and 2 fish—walked away from the miracle worker.
Consider: The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah."And He left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4)
The message to us is to seek first His Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are to follow Jesus as a first priority in comfort or pain. We cannot have an attitude of “What have you done for me lately.” Only after we have established faith in the person, can miracles be considered to achieve His purposes.
Tomorrow I will be more positive about the miracles we can do—but it is very important to know their limitations. People like full bellies, they like health and wealth. But such things are self-focused. Take the flow of comfort away, and they leave.