Recently I had the privilege of seeing a miracle of God. No it was not a miraculous healing of some dreaded disease.
Nor was it the unexplainable resolution of a dire situation. But it was still a miracle.
What I saw was a friend whose life had been made over by the power of God.
I have known this friend for about 40 years and frequently despaired at the path his life seemed to take. He was never anti-religious. He went to church occasionally and would tell you he believed in God, but the choices he made took him to some bad places. My friend had lots of ideas about how to get ahead in life, but every choice seemed to end in disappointment. He had problems with alcohol and other things.
But that was then.
Today there is no hint of such waywardness in my friend’s life. Today he is a loving husband and a good father.
Professionally he continues to assume new responsibilities in a growing business. He is a volunteer leader in his church and there is conversation about him being employed there. Today he is a responsible, caring person who honors Jesus in his life.
Transforming lives
My friend’s story would make a great illustration for a revivalist. He is a living testimony about how God can totally transform a life when Jesus becomes Savior and Lord.
I don’t see my friend often anymore. We visit some, talk occasionally and keep in touch through social media. Perhaps that is why our last visit made such an impression on me. I remembered where he used to be and experienced where he is now. It was amazing.
Privately I almost said to myself that if God could so transform my friend, He could transform anyone. But before that thought could be completed God convicted me of my arrogance. God reminded me that it took no more grace to save my friend than it took to save me. Romans 3:23 is clear when it says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
My life’s story and my friend’s life story are different, but our hope for eternity is the same for we are both “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
God loves me no more because of my life story and my friend no less because of his. In John 3:16, the Bible declares, “God so loved the world.” That means God’s love is big enough to include both of us. God gave “His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Again that includes my friend, you, me and all who will call upon the name of the Lord.
The same Holy Spirit God placed in my life at the time of my repentance and salvation God placed in my friend (Acts 2:38). Sadly we have both grieved God’s Spirit because of sin in our lives, but who is to say that one sin is greater than another?
James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” It is no wonder the apostle Paul in Romans 3:10 repeated David’s famous saying: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Ps. 53:3).
Sins of the mind are as grievous to God as overt actions. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said ‘do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27–28).
The lustful mind, Jesus points out, falls short of God’s glory just like the lustful act.
Sometimes sins of the mind wall us off from God more than open rebellion. The prodigal son of Luke 15 knew he had failed. After wandering in a distant land, he returned to the father in repentance and humility.
The elder brother in the story had remained at home. Yet his relationship with his father was more problematic than that of the younger brother.
Jesus’ own experiences illustrated that point. The strongest opposition He encountered for preaching repentance for the Kingdom of God is at hand did not come from those caught up in gross immorality. The strongest opposition came from those whose lives were devoted to vocational service of God — the priests, scribes and Pharisees.
While their opposition resulted in the foulest of deeds — the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth — it was their attitudes that led them to that bad place. It was their feelings of superiority, their judgmental nature, their refusal to recognize truth or sense the presence of God.
In some way I was like the Pharisees as my friend and I spent time together. There was a sense of judgment in the thought “If God can transform a life like that.” I almost forgot God had done just as great a miracle in saving me and using me in His service.
Christ died for all
Hopefully we will never forget that God can transform any life. No one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy and grace.
Hopefully, we understand that God died for all, even the ones we consider gross sinners. Hopefully, God’s power will keep on working around us and we will continue to see transformed lives that are nothing short of miracles.
But let us never forget that each of us who believe in God through faith in Jesus Christ is a living miracle thanks to the power of our Lord who has transformed us from “children of wrath” to “children of God.”
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