Acts 13:4-12 – On Cyprus
- “If only I could see a miracle”
- Saul and Barnabas set off and immediately meet their first challenge.
- The place is full of sorcerers and magicians.
- In this place is a high ranking gentile whose life God wants to touch.
- What happens next seems simple, but if you read closely you realize you can come away with the wrong impression.
- Elymas the sorcerer tries to oppose what God is doing.
- So Paul essential does a miracle. He blinds Elymas before the eyes of the proconsul.
- The impression I first get because of the words;
- “when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed,”
- is wrong.
- Why? Because my initial impression is that the proconsul believed because he simply saw the miracle.
- But that is not the whole story. The verse carries on;
- “…for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”
- It was not simply the miracle but the teaching that gave him the faith to believe.
- I have often heard it said by the lips of unbelievers that if they could just see a miracle they would believe. And I believe that they think that this is true.
- I have seen two miracles.
- On both occasions I was with a friend. A different friend on each occasion.
- On both occasions; the person I was with who saw the miracle with me, walked away from God some time later.
- I don’t think it is just non-believers that this applies to.
- I think there are Christians out there who are also hoping to see a miracle because it will in some way sure up their faith.
- It’s a mis-conception.
- Miracles are simply an object lesson.
- They are an object lesson about different aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven.
- What helps us believe is the understanding of God’s Word.
- Miracles help us in this, but if we do not accept His teaching – then no miracle will save us from doubt and unbelief.
- It is an understanding of the Word that transforms us. A deeper understanding brings a deeper transformation. A shallow understanding brings a shallow, flaky faith.
- Believe and you will see miracles.
- See miracles and you may believe.
- See only a miracle and you may believe and only for a moment.
- Praying today for a deeper understanding that leads to long-term miracles.
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