Water into Wine?!
I remember a non-Christian asking me, “Do you REALLY believe that Jesus turned water into wine?” as if the idea were absolutely ridiculous.
Not only do I believe it, I am absolutely convinced.
The whole point of that “sign”, as well as the others, was not to dazzle the world with miracles but to point the way to Jesus Christ as the Promised One, the Messiah, the Lord’s Christ. As in the case with the disabled man on the mat in Matthew 9, Jesus used the physical to prove the point that if He is Lord over the physical, how much more over the spiritual?!!!
I have seen Him turn water into wine in my very own life!
God has changed:
-my convinced need of alcohol into a more convincing need of God’s Word.
-my dependence on my own abilities into a dependence on His grace.
-my attempt to get down womens’ pants into my attempt to get God into others’ lives.
-my feelings that my life was a big mistake into knowing that my life was planned by God even before the world was created!
-my haunting suspicion that I, like my biological mother, would someday take my own life into praying that I would die to self to let God rule more completely over me.
-bending over toilet bowls on Sunday mornings puking out the garbage I’d put in the night before into bowing down before the King of Kings on Sunday pouring out praise.
-my wondering what God might be like into knowing clearly the Lord as revealed in Holy Scripture.
-my fear that others would be able to “see through me” and see that I had nothing to offer the world into the knowledge that God knows my every thought and action and STILL chooses to love me!
-Every second word coming out of my mouth being vulgar and debased into a desire to praise God more and more with my mouth.
-Being my own worst enemy into having Christ as my best friend.
-Fear that others might not accept me into a fear that others might not accept Christ.
This is just a short list of all the changes that I have personally seen Jesus Christ perform in my own life. The changes in and of themselves are not important as I do not put my hope in “living a better life”. These changes, like Jesus turning water into wine and all the other miracles He performed, are simply a confirmation of His authority and power which I humbly and willingly accept. His greatest miracle and proof of deity was His own resurrection from the dead. He continues to spiritually resurrect lives that trust in Him and one day we shall all be physically resurrected when He returns in glory, power and honor.
How about you? Have you ever taken Jesus at His word. He promises in John 7:17 that “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he said to the sex-craved, suicidal, alcoholic, poor-excuse-of-a-man, Andy Brown, “Get up, take your restored life and go out into the world.” (Matthew 9:6 from the “Amplified Andy Version”, ha!ha!)
Not only do I believe it, I am absolutely convinced.
The whole point of that “sign”, as well as the others, was not to dazzle the world with miracles but to point the way to Jesus Christ as the Promised One, the Messiah, the Lord’s Christ. As in the case with the disabled man on the mat in Matthew 9, Jesus used the physical to prove the point that if He is Lord over the physical, how much more over the spiritual?!!!
I have seen Him turn water into wine in my very own life!
God has changed:
-my convinced need of alcohol into a more convincing need of God’s Word.
-my dependence on my own abilities into a dependence on His grace.
-my attempt to get down womens’ pants into my attempt to get God into others’ lives.
-my feelings that my life was a big mistake into knowing that my life was planned by God even before the world was created!
-my haunting suspicion that I, like my biological mother, would someday take my own life into praying that I would die to self to let God rule more completely over me.
-bending over toilet bowls on Sunday mornings puking out the garbage I’d put in the night before into bowing down before the King of Kings on Sunday pouring out praise.
-my wondering what God might be like into knowing clearly the Lord as revealed in Holy Scripture.
-my fear that others would be able to “see through me” and see that I had nothing to offer the world into the knowledge that God knows my every thought and action and STILL chooses to love me!
-Every second word coming out of my mouth being vulgar and debased into a desire to praise God more and more with my mouth.
-Being my own worst enemy into having Christ as my best friend.
-Fear that others might not accept me into a fear that others might not accept Christ.
This is just a short list of all the changes that I have personally seen Jesus Christ perform in my own life. The changes in and of themselves are not important as I do not put my hope in “living a better life”. These changes, like Jesus turning water into wine and all the other miracles He performed, are simply a confirmation of His authority and power which I humbly and willingly accept. His greatest miracle and proof of deity was His own resurrection from the dead. He continues to spiritually resurrect lives that trust in Him and one day we shall all be physically resurrected when He returns in glory, power and honor.
How about you? Have you ever taken Jesus at His word. He promises in John 7:17 that “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he said to the sex-craved, suicidal, alcoholic, poor-excuse-of-a-man, Andy Brown, “Get up, take your restored life and go out into the world.” (Matthew 9:6 from the “Amplified Andy Version”, ha!ha!)
posted by Andrew Brown at 1:44 PM
3 comments
