It Would Take a Miracle...

A while back I was talking to a Catholic friend of mine. I didn't know he was Catholic; actually, when I first met him, he was Agnostic.

But we were talking for a while, I mainly about how weird it was to me that he wasn't Agnostic anymore, since I had known him for years as one. He explained to me his story (which involved a miracle about snow which I don't perfectly remember, but it was interesting). He concluded by saying he knew I believed his story because it would take a miracle for him to believe in God.

Tonight I found myself thinking about those words, and I realized how absolutely brilliant they are.

I mean, think about it. We're fallen, wicked human beings. We don't want to believe in God. What? Some almighty being wants to intrude on my life, be my lord and master? Save me? Hah! I can do all that myself.

Everyone is like that at some point. But for some people, that song changes. At some point it doesn't seem so far-fetched. It might actually be possible. Maybe we really do need a Savior. Maybe we need some perfect being to be the ruler of our lives. Maybe we can't do it on our own.

Why does that change? It's because God calls out to his children. He opens their hearts and minds to receive him, something we absolutely cannot do on our own. In other words, it's a miracle.

It takes a miracle for anyone to believe in God. Thankfully, God works that miracle out for us because we can't perform miracles. We're human beings. Only God can do miracles.

It would take a miracle for us to even be in the presence of God without dying. But thankfully, that miracle has already happened; Jesus died, took our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness, then rose from the dead "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).