Miracles of the Spirit

“‘…but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to them, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'”

Luke 16:30-31 (NASB)

Today is the anniversary of my diving accident. Well-intentioned Christians have sometimes looked at my wheelchair and said, “Think of what a witness to the world you would be if God raised you up out of that chair!” They assume that all the unbelievers who have ever seen or heard of me would, by that miracle, be convinced of the power and truth of God.

I say, “A miracle will not do the convincing.” That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. True, the Spirit may use occasional miracles to augment his work, but even when men were raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit, people were not persuaded. And if a dead man raised out of the grave doesn’t convince, I’m not so sure a paralyzed woman raised out of a chair will, either. People would probably say, “She was never paralyzed in the first place.”

Do we look for signs and wonders, hoping these will entice unbelieving friends into the kingdom? “If God would heal her baby, I know she’d believe.” That’s presumption and perhaps a lack of faith. God needs neither dead men walking or paralyzed people dancing. The real miracle of the Spirit is to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me” (John 16:8—9). It is the sinful heart he wants to heal.

For me, the real miracle means sitting in this wheelchair and smiling. Every day I experience miracles of patience and perseverance, endurance, and self-control. This ordinary (which is so very extraordinary) work of the Spirit is sufficient. I’m concerned more with a heart that works than with hands that function.

May my heart be the seat of your miracle-working power today, Lord.