I’ve been thinking how to define a miracle. It seems that the best definition is something God does that is beyond what we understand as the normal laws of nature, the regular way that things work. Normally, when someone dies they stay dead. If God restores a them to life, that is a miracle. Normally water is water, but if God changes it to wine, that is a miracle.
Today I’m reading one of my favorite passages of Scripture, 1 John 1. In just a few verses, it offers more examples of miracles: “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
From what I know about sin and how deeply rooted it is in the human psyche, being able to walk in God's light is a miracle. We cannot do that without a radical change in our hearts, something only God can do.
Another miracle is that we can actually have fellowship or community with one another. Normal people can get along to a point, but the blood of Christ makes possible a deeper fellowship, a unity of spirit, a sense of togetherness that does not depend on agreeing about everything. He deals with that sin that insists on being right, having our own way, looking out for our personal interests.
Third, being purified from our sin is a miracle. Apart from God it would never happen. The Bible defines sin as rejecting God’s way and going our own way. In know that in myself I am so determined to go my own way, have my own way, insist on my own ideas, be my own person, and look out for number one that to have even a moment in my life where I put God and others first is utterly amazing.
Fourth, being able to admit that I am a sinner is a miracle. Apart from conviction by the Holy Spirit, I would never see my sinfulness, never mind be able to openly acknowledge it before God and people. Pride would not let that happen. Pride and self-protection is the normal pattern of life.
And my favorite verse (9) is another miracle. When I confess my sin to God, He forgives me, which in itself is amazing given that I have offended Him and am responsible for the death of His Son. But He also purifies me. I don’t have to work at it or do anything but say, “You are right about me God. Fix it.”
If a person wants to change, they generally work at doing it themselves. They might stop some behaviors and start new habits, but a Christian has another option. I only need to agree with God about where I am wrong, sinful, weak, helpless, unable—and ask Him to cleanse me, give me what I need to operate in His will rather than my own. The miracle is not that He can do it, but that He does do it! He gives new life and renews that newness over and over for all who hope in Him. We don’t earn it or deserve it, but He does it anyway. If anything falls outside the normal pattern of life, this does.
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