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The Bible says that those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. This blog aims to provide fodder for that hunger: to share, inspire and challenge Christians about their faith and relationship with God.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

The Pursuit of True Treasure

I read today on twitter a little message from someone encouraging their followers to follow a young evangelist who was functioning in signs and wonders.

The Bible tells us that signs and wonders will follow those who are true believers of Jesus Christ (Mark 16). So you're supposed to have signs and wonders following YOU. Should we follow other people who are if we're not? Sure, if your motives are right.

I've met a lot of people who chase the shifting winds of signs and wonders. A Church over there, a dynamic speaker somewhere else. Don't get me wrong - signs and wonders are good if they are wrought by the Spirit of God and people's lives are being transformed and becoming followers of Jesus. It was relatively common to have miracles and things happening in the Early Church.

What gets me is when people chase signs and wonders as if they were great shows to watch. God does these things to draw people to Himself. But if people are watching all these amazing things, which could legitimately be of the Lord, but do not change, it makes me wonder. No one, when they encounter the living God and get a revelation of who He is can ever go away without being changed. God's own person must always be the focus, the centre. When people start focusing so much of the signs that they lose sight of the One who performs them, they have taken the wrong turning somewhere in their spiritual journey.

Jesus instructed His disciples: "You will know them by their fruit."
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matt 7:15-20
People will never be perfect. That's why we as individuals should never put them on a pedestal in our hearts. Respect and honour is always due, but humans are weak beings given to idolatory and pride. When we place too much emphasis on the vessel rather than the One who fills it, we replace God's place with an idol. When that happens, Satan has a field day.

Signs and wonders are beautiful, amazing, great -- but the One who performs them is infinitely greater, and more majestic. It's like admiring a painting but completely overlooking the poor painter standing behind it. It's not only rude, but incredibly foolish.

Additionally, there are many people and religions out there that also purport to perform signs and wonders. The Bible said that this would be so. When Aaron's staff became a snake, Pharoah's magicians could produce the same result by their crafts. Why? The spiritual world is real. Just as the owner of a car and a thief may both know how to drive a car, so it is in the spiritual realm. But the law-abiding owner of a car will always treat the car differently from a thief. And a thief's motives for what they do will also be different.  The result may look similar, but the consequences that stem from them are always characteristic: one brings life, leading to life eternal; the other brings death. One will bring people closer to God, the other pushes them away from Him.

The conclusion? Don't chase after signs and wonders. If you are a true believer of Jesus, you would covet to walk in them as Jesus did. But there's no need to chase them around. There is a far greater Treasure. Pursue your Creator as a child seeks their Father in a grand game of hide and seek. When you meet, He is the source of everything you need. And your heart will grow and blossom as a tree planted and nurtured in a beloved garden.

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