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As Christians, we are people of faith. We live with the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen because we are children of “The God of the Impossible.” If we have a God who is able to do all things that do not contradict His character of nature, why then, do we not see more “miracles,” or in an attempt to make excuses for God, make the mundane miraculous?

Let us first define our terms and establish the context. The context or framework for my understanding of miracles is that there is a God who has established physical laws by which the natural realm operates. These physical laws govern the physical universe in which we live. As the creator of the universe and these physical laws, God is outside of them and not bound by them. God’s modus operandi or standard/default way of interacting with His creation is to let those natural processes occur. For God to suppress or supersede those natural processes would constitute a “miracle” in the purest sense. Why is this so rare? Because if it was not rare then there would be confusion and disorder as confidence in the natural laws/processes would be undermined. When the exception becomes commonplace, it is no longer the exception; miracles would cease to be miraculous.

According to this definition, it is NOT a miracle for me to find a parking space in crowded parking lot. It is NOT a miracle for the lousy football team to beat a hugely superior team. It is NOT a miracle when I am healed of malaria after taking my prophylaxis (malaria meds) which are derived from quinine found in plants. To call those things “miracles,” in my opinion, cheapens the term.

There is, however, another way in which the word miracle is used … the coming together of natural circumstances in extraordinary and highly unlikely ways with timing that defy probability. If I take all of the parts of a fine Swiss watch and give them to a monkey or a bunch of rats in a cage and they arrange those pieces into a functioning watch, it would not “technically” be a miracle, but the probability of that happening would truly be miraculous! In this second sense, it is the guiding hand of God over natural circumstances that are called a miracle.

Finally, I think the term “miracle” is misused with the best of intentions. By saying, “it is a miracle” people are really trying to say that God is involved (in one way or another) and deserves credit. We Christians believe that the transcendent God of the universe is personal, relational, and involved in our lives. I humbly propose that this involvement is NOT a miracle, but it is NORMAL. The presence of Christ in my life … to me it seems very normal and highly relational … maybe I am wrong and that is a miracle J.

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Miracles

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