by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
Every physical miracle points to a spiritual reality. Every sign and wonder is inferior to the spiritual reality it points to.<\/p>\n
What would people rather experience? Jesus condemned those demanding signs and wonders (John 6). Miracles visibly benefited people. Therefore, they are preferred.<\/p>\n
Why are we so willing to accept the inferior over the superior? Selfish and shortsighted, we focus on us, getting this world’s things.<\/p>\n
Even after His death, the resurrection of Jesus was a physical miracle and pointed to a greater spiritual reality – Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 1:4) and defeat of Satan’s greatest weapon, which is death (I Corinthians 15).<\/p>\n
A self-centered Christianity that prefers only the forgiveness from a Savior and not Christ as King is focused on personally benefiting without submission. This is accepting the inferior over the superior.<\/p>\n
A weak Christianity overemphasizes our importance because of God’s love and again, we personally benefit from love. However, this priority over and above glorifying God as Lord and King places us in danger of making God submit to our priorities.<\/p>\n
So, while we all would love to see a miracle because humans are the visible recipients of that love and grace, remember they point to who is greater – our God to whom we serve. Worship is our ultimate benefit, privilege, duty, honor, and yes, place.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall Every physical miracle points to a spiritual reality. Every sign and wonder is inferior to the spiritual reality it points to. What would people rather experience? Jesus condemned those demanding signs and wonders (John 6). Miracles visibly benefited people. Therefore, they are preferred. Why are we so willing to accept the inferior…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[363],"class_list":["post-66664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-miracles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/coming-out-of-pentecostalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":0},"title":"Coming Out of Pentecostalism (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Davis One of the greatest challenges for any Pentecostal to overcome is to accept the fact that God no longer works miracles today as he did in times past. Three years ago I wrote a series of three articles in\u00a0Seek the Old Paths\u00a0on\u00a0Why I Left the Pentecostal Church\u00a0(June,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45428,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/careful-with-the-word-miracle\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":1},"title":"Careful with the Word “Miracle”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gardner Hall I see increasing numbers of references among disciples of Christ referring to events in their lives as miraculous, or even asking for a miracle. Perhaps it's time for a reminder that we don't live in the miraculous age. That fact almost used to be taken for granted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-miracles-not-happening-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":2},"title":"Why are miracles not happening in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I am a member of the church. One thing I never understood is this: There are movies, such as Breakthrough, a true story about a boy falling through ice, then being pronounced dead, and then his mother prays over him and suddenly he starts breathing again, and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-miracles-happen-every-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":3},"title":"Do miracles happen every day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently, in a discussion, someone said that miracles happen every day; and that if you anoint someone and pray over them, then they can be healed. Also, they say that proof of miracles today is the fruits of the Spirit. They \"defy the nature of man,\" so they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/miracles-in-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":4},"title":"Miracles in the New Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many claim to have miraculous gifts, just like those given in the New Testament \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter that you or I can show verses that state such gifts were temporary and were going to end. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter that most of the big time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28243,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-a-miracle-when-a-person-sees-an-angel-or-receives-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":66664,"position":5},"title":"Isn’t it a miracle when a person sees an angel or receives the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What about people who see angels these days? Is that not a miracle or are you teaching that is of the devil? What about receiving the Holy Spirit is that not a miracle? Answer: Miracles are alterations of natural events. The birth of a baby is a wondrous event,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}