Our missionaries experience miracles of all sorts all around the world. Some miracles are huge — healing, salvation. Some miracles are more subtle — peace in the midst of tragedy, unanswered prayers and revelation of God’s bigger plans.
Today, World Racer Joey Willis, of January 2013 N Squad, shares what he’s learned about the ultimate miracle: the miracle of God’s sacrificial love.
The only thing evil cannot mimic is love.
The magicians of Pharaoh performed similar signs and wonders to the plagues in Egypt. Witch doctors sometimes heal. The powers of darkness can mask as light by bringing physical wellness. Revelation warns that the Antichrist will raise from the dead.
I find myself on this journey longing to be a part of something incredible. I want to see someone raised from the dead, I want to see something that baffles the senses. I want to be a part of something supernatural. We get so caught up in signs and wonders, in miracles, in healings. It is dangerous to worship experience that the powers of darkness can also perform.
The world is teaching me that it can do some incredible things, too.
Evil is even capable of grace; it is capable of wisdom. Only on the other side of committed do we realize we have been fooled by a grace on condition and a wisdom grounded in lies.
The miracle of the cross is not that Jesus died and his body was raised. Evil can do that too. The miracle was that He loved us enough to die in our place. The miracles of Jesus are not about walking on water or feeding thousands, nor healing leprosy or disease. The miracle of Jesus is that He loved the leper, He was united with nature in service to the Lord of Creation, and He acted out of a love for His Father.
The idea of love has become too saturated in our lives. It is overused and underperformed. We get excited about healing a broken arm but not excited about love. We are missing the foundation of what the gospel is all about.
I am afraid that I am missing miracles.
Missing the miracle of relationship because I want to see the miracle of experience. Missing the miracle of love because I want to see the miracle of sights beyond my understanding. But my lack of understanding is the base camp for the gospel, not its pinnacle. What I most imagine happening is the baseboards of the Kingdom infrastructure, far from the rooftops.
To be Jesus to orphans in Ecuador, prisoners in Peru, and gangsters in South Africa is not to cast out demons, nor to heal their physical pains, or usher in some incredible sight.
To be Jesus is simply to love.
The only difference between natural and supernatural is how much we are willing to see. And the only difference between good and evil is how much trust we put in the promises of the Sovereign Lord. We are fighting a battle already won. We are missing a gospel already alive as we nobly attempt to revitalize what is already breathing.
There is so much beauty in the world. So much love. So much faith available. We need to stop being slaves to our hopes and our perspectives and fall into celebration of the victorious Jesus.
Our world will change when we love each other. The Kingdom of Heaven will radiate when we declare its radiance. The Love of God will reign when we love.
My hope from now on is to love better. Nothing about love looks like anything other than Jesus. I want to be on fire in every moment, because love does not wait for experience, it does not serve situation. Through the power of Christ’s love, we can accomplish so much. But in the power of Christ’s love, all things are already accomplished. Pray that we, as the body of Christ, might learn to appreciate the miracle of love and the abundant availability of participating in that miracle.
May Christ show us nothing else until we love one another, because outside of love there really is nothing else.
