{"id":1226,"date":"2012-08-12T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-12T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2012-08-13T11:06:54","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T16:06:54","slug":"looking-for-a-miracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1226","title":{"rendered":"Looking for a Miracle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the book Thrilled to Death<\/em>, clinical psychologist Dr. Archibald Hart describes our pleasure seeking society as one that overloads the brain circuits, driving us to seek more intense and sensational experiences.\u00a0 We become addicted to extreme forms of stimulation and bored with the ordinary.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s technologically driven age we are constantly exposed to ever increasing mind boggling activities.\u00a0 We are plugged in, turned on, or hooked up all day long.\u00a0 A recent article in July 16, 2012 issue of Newsweek Magazine entitled Tweets, Texts, Email, Posts:\u00a0 Is the Onslaught Making Us Crazy by Tony Dokoupil supports this theory.\u00a0 Average adults\"\"<\/a> process 400 texts a month.\u00a0 This would sound high unless we compare it to the average teen who processes 3,700 texts a month.\u00a0 All of this is in addition to emails, ipods, ipads, youtube, and just surfing the Net\u00a0\u00a0 Is it all making us crazy? The conclusion is YES!<\/p>\n

How does this affect the Christian community or those searching for Christ?\u00a0 Well no longer are they satisfied with the ordinary.\u00a0 They must have dramatic faith healings and spectacular miracles or in their minds God does not exist or at least isn\u2019t doing a good job.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they have the cart before the horse.\u00a0 People want to experience a miracle to believe in God when actually they need to believe first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Christ\u2019s hometown of Galilee Christ didn\u2019t do many miracles because of their lack of faith (Matthew 13:58).\u00a0 Was this because Christ\u2019s miracles are dependent on our faith?\u00a0 Not at all!\u00a0 But what would have been the point?\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t have believed anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes God does provide a visual when he knows it will actually boost our faith.\u00a0 Such was the case with Thomas who said he wouldn\u2019t believe Christ had risen from the dead unless he saw him (John 20:24-29), but Jesus was quick to tell him, \u201cBecause you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The need for Christ to authenticate his message through miracles has long passed.\u00a0 His message speaks for itself.\u00a0\u00a0 Sadly some professing Christians are still seeking signs and wonders long after their conversion.\u00a0 This is not so much that they doubt Christ\u2019s existence as they are looking for a \u201cthrill\u201d that comes from the miracle.\u00a0 It gives a \u201chigh,\u201d a byproduct from an over stimulated society.\u00a0 But when we are always looking for the next big thing or supernatural happening in our lives to feel God\u2019s presence we forget that he has been with us all along.\u00a0 We miss the daily walk.<\/p>\n

Sure there are times we have those horrible \u201clows\u201d in life where we cry out to God for miraculous deliverance and experience the \u201chigh\u201d that comes when we are delivered.\u00a0 But when there is no major difficulty going on do we see the miracles of God in the drudgery of everyday life?\u00a0 Do we see God in our day to day grind \u2013 getting up when the 6 o\u2019clock alarm rings, taking a shower, brushing our teeth, carpooling the kids, driving to work in the same old car to the same old job and coming home to the same old family, then cooking something to eat, doing the dishes, helping with homework, falling into bed dog tired?\u00a0 Can we cheerfully get up and do it all again the next day and stay totally centered on God?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Healthy Christians are able to go through life without God having to supernaturally zap them with an addictive spiritual meth amphetamine to get them through the day.\u00a0 As we grow in God\u2019s grace we realize the miracle of God revealing himself to us all the time.\u00a0 It might be in the laughter of a child, the smile of a coworker, clouds in the sky, sunlight on a window pane, or the guy who lets us merge in traffic.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we are truly looking for a miracle, we need look no further than where we are.\u00a0 For where we are, God will be.\u00a0 He\u2019ll never leave us or never forsake us no matter what.\u00a0 He can be our peace and calm in an over stimulated world.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t see that as a miracle, there is no need to look anywhere else, because we\u2019ll never find it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the book Thrilled to Death, clinical psychologist Dr. Archibald Hart describes our pleasure seeking society as one that overloads the brain circuits, driving us to seek more intense and sensational experiences.\u00a0 We become addicted to extreme forms of stimulation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}