Why miracles are not enough for people to believe in God

I often hear Christians say that if God performed more miracles, their friends would believe in him. If God would just show up in a mighty way, all of us would have more trust in him, and our doubts would vanish. Wouldn’t we have unwavering faith if we could witness more of his works? Let’s look at what happened in Jesus’ days:

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. John 12:37

That is just unbelievable!! Those people saw the Messiah in the flesh and watched him perform many miracles. And still, many didn’t believe. 

In chapter 28, Matthew gives an account of Jesus’ resurrection and his encounter with the disciples: 

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Matthew 28:17

Can you believe that!? They stood face to face to the risen Christ, the greatest miracle, and some doubted. 

It seems to me that miracles are not the main argument that makes people believe in God. I love seeing God at work and performing marvelous things. His miracles often astonish us for a few days or even several weeks. But eventually, they fade and we find ourselves living our lives while our hearts long for something more. 

Miracles are amazing and can start a conversation about God, but they aren’t enough to draw us deep into his very presence.  

An interesting side note: Not his disciples, but his antagonists knew clearly who Jesus was. Satan describes him as the Son of God (Luke 4:9) and the Demons even knew that he was the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24). They believe in the existence and authority of God and the Messiah without the shadow of a doubt, while we sometimes struggle to believe. 

If not miracles, what then draws us near to God and makes us believe in him? His love. 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1. John 3:1

It is a love that the world doesn’t know because it doesn’t know God. When a person truly knows God as who he really is, they can’t do anything else than to believe wholeheartedly in his existence.

When we’re seeking to have more faith in God, we need to get to know him as who he really is and ponder upon his love for us. The same applies to unbelievers: Miracles are awesome and astonishing, but what draws them into the heart of God is love. When they realized how loved and worthy they are in his sight they’d never let him go.

When they see a reflection in our eyes of Jesus’ love for them and watch our lives guided by the Holy Spirit, they’ll see God himself moving. They witness a life being lived that leaves them wanting something Christians seem to have. When they see that we’re sometimes joyful and peaceful when they’re not, they want to know our secret. To witness how we live from a place of acceptance rather than strive, they can sense God’s love propelling us from the inside out shaping everything we’re doing.  

The problem is that we often think we know God, but we don’t fully comprehend his love for us. When we examine how we actually relate to God in every moment of our day, we realize that his love hasn’t manifested fully in our lives. We say that we believe God loves us, but how we think and live may reveal an entirely different doctrine. As Paul prays for the Ephesians to be rooted and established in love that they;

may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:18-19

What we need is a deeper revelation of God’s love and not of what we think the love of God is supposed to look like. Let’s open ourselves up to get to know him, the purest form of love, as who he most naturally is, and let stronger faith be a byproduct of that search. 

In the end, it’s not what God can do for us that makes us believe in him but he himself is the substance of our belief. God unfiltered as the strongest and deepest love there is draws people in like nothing else.

Read more:

Your perception of God determines how you live your life

God loves you

How I stop anxious thoughts

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