It’s Metempirical!

While visiting the campus of The University of Georgia a number of years ago, I fell into a conversation with a student and the subject turned to worldview. She said she was an Atheist and a Taoist. I confess that I knew nothing of Taoism (and I still know very little about Taoism, but I understand so-called “Atheism”) and had difficulty determining where to go next, so I just asked, “How would you explain how this Universe came to be?” She replied, “It was a miracle!”

How odd that a so-called atheist would choose that word, “miracle.” I wondered why she chose that word, so I asked her. Her reply? There is no other way to explain how everything “just happened.” I could not agree more. I found out later that her so-called atheism was practical; that is, she understood biblical teaching to point to a lifestyle that was not “for her,” so she embraced another world view. I shared the gospel with her and the need for reconciliation with God, not a lifestyle.

We tend to toss words around out of context and this tends to strip words of their meaning and impact. “Miracle” is the name of a white salad dressing, for example. What is so “miraculous” about it? While it’s similarity to mayonnaise is obvious, it is less expensive to produce--the “miracle” is in the way it’s Kraft-ed.

Yet in the back of the mind, there remains the impact of the word, for people expect much of an event. There are attempts to strip the power of the “miracle” by removing the concept from it’s sacred roots--the new word is “metempirical” which refers to that which is beyond or outside the field of experience. It’s still a miracle. A.W. Tozer illustrates this well when he said there are two types of Board members: “those who can see the miracle and those who can only see their calculators and their strings of calculations.”

I bring this up because the world demands a sign; yet, in their asking, I am convinced the world understands what they are demanding. Even Jesus faced this demand from the most religious people on the planet--and they never saw it, though they saw it. How do I know the world demands a sign? Because the world is constantly looking for something to occur outside the realm of experience. This is part of what drives the entertainment industry--the next level of experience.

Sharing the gospel, teaching the things of God is part of the process of the miraculous because the result is that when one repents, he is a new creation. Something that did not exist before, and the change is instantaneous, it happens right before your eyes. Brethren, you know through reading scripture that God raises the dead--we get to see this happen when through faithful witness we see one who is dead to God come alive in Christ through repentance. We get to see those blinded by the god of this world and who are walking in darkness gain sight and walk in the light! Those who are bound by sin are set free to do everything they should!

Miracles are everywhere and they happen because of your obedient participation with God to the praise of His glory in Christ Jesus!