Experiencing Wonder
Scripture Reading — Acts 3:1-10
"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you." Acts 3:6 —
In 1983 I attended a class unlike any other. Half the faculty wanted it booted from campus. Some called it a circus dragged into academia. Our teacher had been a beer-guzzling, drug-abusing musician who at 29 years of age became a Christian. He insisted that Christians can still do acts of healing today.
I attended those classes with both doubt and hope. I hoped to see wheelchairs and crutches stacked in a pile. We didn't. But I did see one of my classmates fall to the floor in a quivering heap. An assistant teacher had whispered into his ear, and down he went. Later, after class, he told me he had been healed from a secret sin. He had silently locked this secret in a vault of shame deep in his heart. But now he was healed. Forgiven.
People carry secrets and wounds to church. A friend learns that his son has a learning disability. A classmate discovers that his parents are getting a divorce. A cousin gets wounded in the Middle East. Can the church help?
You might doubt that you can offer anything to hurting people. But Jesus still works wonders. He doesn't fix every lame leg, but in his church you may well see broken people who've had their marriage healed. You'll also meet people who are forgiven. Final healing will come only when Jesus returns, but today God might even use you as his agent of healing.
Lord, when we look at the world's big hurts, we're tempted to think we don't have anything to give. Increase our faith. Empower us to point people to you. In your name, Amen.