His Attitude

John 10:10 “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

The first recorded ministry miracle of Jesus is in John 2:1-11 (please read). What significance do you find in the fact that turning water into wine is the first miracle Jesus worked? Is there a second or third level interpretation?

Someone said, the wine later became the representation of His blood. So, Jesus was more or less saying, this is symbolic of what I came for, take, I am giving it to you in advance. It also could mean that Jesus was saying, I have come to give life and to give it abundantly. I have come to turn a sad event into a joyous event. I have come to turn ordinary water into sweetened waters, that is My mission. 

So, anybody that tries to convince you that God wants to punish you, is lying. It is different when as a son God is taking you through a path, or He is dealing with you. That God wants to build character in you is a different thing entirely. But that image of God as a sadist that just wants to destroy your business or destroy your family is not God. We can see Jesus’ attitude toward miracles through scriptures. I will share three with you and hopefully, you can add a fourth one. Firstly, Jesus did not do miracles for personal gain or for financial gain. There was no time Jesus did a miracle for financial gain, not once.

Secondly, Jesus did not do miracles to make a name for Himself. In fact, many times they would tell the people He healed not to tell anyone. Jesus did not say, because of the healing of the blind now His ministry would be famous. So, when people say that, I chuckle. Did God use it? Yes, God used it to glorify Himself and to magnify the Name of Jesus. But fame was not Jesus’ motive. Thirdly, Jesus rebuked miracle seekers. When people came to Him and asked Him to show them a sign, Jesus rebuked them. Matt.16:4 “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign…” Jesus would minister to the poor and to the rich. He will minister to male and to female. He will minister to Samaritans and Jews alike. 

I had a missionary friend, called by God to the mission field and he is doing a great job. On one of his visits, he was talking down on churches in the city. He felt that pastors in the city were doing nothing, it was them in the missions doing the real work of the gospel. So, I asked him, is the soul of the poor of more value than the soul of the rich and vice versa? Jesus died for everybody.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, as You reveal Your heart to me in this season, please renew my heart and my thinking, in Jesus Name. Amen!