Like everyone in blogo-land, I'm reading my way through James Rutz's "Megashift." I have already seen enough quotes from it to know that He has some awesome things to say about what God is doing all over the world and how He is working through simple, organic expressions. Here's a great summary.
But...
His first chapter deals with the subject of "exciting miracles" as he documents the increase in resurrections from the dead and other phenomenal miracles. I don't want to be come across, in any way, with negativity about what God is doing and will continue to do. It's awesome. That's not it.
There's just this little gnawing something in me that reacts to the excitement around signs and wonders as though they are the end in themselves. They are exciting. It is awesome that God works in our world in incredible ways. We ought to expect it. But the signs and wonders themselves are not "it." HE is.
It just seems like I have been around people lately for whom the pursuit of signs and wonders is the thing--the biggest thing of all. The "signs and wonders" topic is the hot button that everyone wants to get hyped about. Again, this is difficult to say because we certainly want to be people that are pressing into all that God has for us-- so how can this pursuit to be too big? If we say that someone is "too excited" about signs and wonders are we throwing cold water?
Signs and wonders are a good thing; they are a God-thing. But, truly, they are NOT the most important thing.
The best way for me to say this is to quote from Roland Baker. He is the perfect person to quote from on this subject because he and Heidi, in Mozambique, have created more excitement about signs and wonders than probably any other people. Understandably so. God has done wonderful things through their ministry.
But Roland says well what I am trying to say:
Through all the tears and laughter, repentance and joy, worship and celebration, healings and deliverances, we find time to teach the most basic and critical foundations of the Gospel. This movement does not chase health and wealth, or manifestations, or signs and wonders. We preach Jesus and Him crucified, and the power of the Cross. Nothing counts but faith working through love, producing joy! We seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these other things will chase us! We are learning how to be rich in good deeds, and blessed with godliness and contentment. We are falling in love with Him who is love, until nothing in this world attracts us like He does...
This is my point... "these other things (including signs and wonders) will chase us." Trust it. Believe it. Look for it. Expect it. But it's not what WE chase. We chase Jesus crucified... to live for, fall in love with, and die for however He chooses to use us.
Roland goes on to say:
We ask our readers, Who will lose their life for Him in order to gain it? Who will suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and run the race to win? Who will join us in the harvest field, sparing nothing? Who wants to burn with life and passion in pursuit of what is pure, perfect and eternal? Who wants to love as Jesus loves?
When this is our life and passion... and not the signs and wonders themselves... then perhaps "signs and wonders will follow."
